What Happens Next
by The Red Dove
Summary: The woman in orange looked to the man in orange.  They both knew that the other had been through more than anyone should,and that they would both do whatever it takes to save the world.  "Let's go." Alyx said.  The other two nodded, and followed Alyx.
1. It Starts

Chell wandered through the wheat field, portal gun in hand, and the Companion Cube in the portal gun's zero-energy-field-manipulator. The day was drawing to a close, and Chell knew that she had to find a place to stay for the night.

She eventually came across an old warehouse, which had some logo on it. A triangle-ish thing in a circle. She opened the door, and instantly jumped back.

Blood was splattered against the walls and floor, and even some on the ceiling, and a corpse, already decomposing, was sprawled out on a folding chair.

Chell closed her eyes and tried to wake herself up, expecting to find herself in one of Aperture's motel-type rooms again. She opened her eyes, hoping to see the ceiling fan and hearing the mechanical voice instructing her to look up. What she saw instead was was something similar to a rope hanging from a _thing_ on the ceiling. She picked up a socket wrench she saw against a wall and poked the rope, only to have the wrench yanked out of her hand and travel upwards into the thing, only to have it fall after reaching the thing.

She avoided the rope that came down again, and tried to look for a place in this nightmarish building that she could possibly sleep in without having to worry about _things_. She found stairs that led downwards, and despite her inner voice telling her to go risk the darkness outside to find another location, she walked down the stairs, looking for things as she went.

As soon as she reached the bottom, she found that she was still holding the socket wrench. She looked at the Companion Cube, and set it down in a corner, thinking that she would probably need the wrench over the cube that was just extra weight. She pushed the cube so that it fit the corner perfectly, gave it a little pat, and took in her surroundings. Yes, there was some blood here, but not as much as upstairs. And the only corpse she saw here was what looked like some animal. It was like a little crab, she thought, but without the shell. And instead of red blood surrounding it, it looked almost greenish. She resisted the urge to vomit, and found a decent enough corner to stay the night in. The last thing she saw before she fell asleep was the animal laying on the ground.

* * *

><p>She woke up for the first time as a free woman, but then realized that she wasn't any better off than she was back at Aperture. When she first saw the wheat field, she hadn't expected to see such horrors as she had.<p>

Weren't birds supposed to chirp when you woke up? Wasn't the sun supposed to shine on her face? She then remembered that she was in a basement, and avoiding the animal-creature, she headed for the stairs, when she noticed the Companion Cube.

Goodbye, she thought to it. I'll come back for you when I know what's going on.

As she headed up the stairs, she remembered the rope-thing-creature, and once again, looked for any others there might be. She zipped up her jumpsuit to protect her from the morning chill as she headed for the door. She stuck the wrench in one of the pockets, and placed the portal gun correctly in her hand,when she noticed a little green box right next to the door. Curious, she opened it, to find a shotgun and ammo, as well as a strap to place on her jumpsuit to hold the items. Thinking that it was better safe than sorry, she placed the weapon and ammo on the strap, and put the strap over her outfit.

I'm ready, she thought, and opened the door, to find a bloody person walking around outside.

She wanted to call out to see if he was okay, but remembering she couldn't speak, walked over and tapped him on the shoulder.

The man turned around and, if Chell could, she would have screamed. The man looked like he had no face, but she then realized that one of the creatures like the one in the basement had attached itself to the mans face. She reached out to pull it off, when the man screamed and tried to scratch her. Chell, having fast reflexes due to the endless tests she had to go through, dodged them, only getting a little scratched. It was nothing compared to getting shot at, she thought.

She then noticed that the man had claws, and his stomach was torn open. The man-thing started walking towards her, screaming in agony, and tried to claw at her again. Chell took her portal gun and hit him against the head as hard as she could, but the man only stumbled back, only to come after her again. Realizing she had no choice, she grabbed the loaded shotgun and shot at him right on the head. As the man fell, she thanked no one in particular for the practice she had at aiming with the portal gun.

The creature had fallen off of his face, and Chell saw the bloodied face of a man crying out in terror.

Oh my God, I killed him! she thought. She then looked at the dead creature next to him.

No, wait, that thing killed him, didn't it. I probably saved him. What's going on here?

She reloaded her shotgun and started running away from that place, going nowhere in particular except away.

* * *

><p>"No, Dad, please! Please, don't go! I...I need you!" Alyx cried into her father's corpse. Clutching into his chest, she sobbed even harder. "Dad...Dad, no! Please! I...I don't want you to leave me! Dad!"<p>

Gordon could only watch as he saw Alyx cry. He never saw her cry before. He saw her when she was happy, saw her when she was scared, saw her worried, even seen her almost dead before. Never crying. Alyx was so strong, and yet she's crying.

DOG looked down at Alyx and tried to give her a concerned look. Even though he was a robot, Gordon knew that DOG somehow felt responsible for Eli's death. DOG was genuinely sad. How could robots actually have emotions? This only proved that Eli was indeed a genius.

"Oh, dear!" Kleiner gasped in the doorway. Gordon looked back and saw that both he and Magnusson had finally arrived. Magnusson seemed to hesitate, and Gordon heard him say "Great, yet another unpleasant distraction." Even through his words, Gordon could see that Magnusson was trying his hardest not to show his emotion. He knew that Magnusson wasn't as cold-hearted as he tried to make others believe.

Gordon walked over to Alyx and placed a hand on her shoulder, looking at the body of his friend. Even though they were the same age, Eli showed it. Gordon realized, that if it weren't for the G-man, he would also be much older, and Alyx obviously wouldn't think of Gordon the same way she did now. She would have thought of him as on of her dad's old scientist buddies.

Alyx looked up at Gordon, tears freely running down her face, and Gordon didn't even know what to do. Alyx rushed into Gordon and started crying into his chest. "He's gone." she said. "I can't believe that he's really gone!"

Gordon wrapped his arms around Alyx's trembling form and tried his best to comfort her. Magnusson and Kleiner both came down and looked at the late Eli's body.

"Oh, dear." Kleiner said again. "My poor friend." He then looked to Alyx and Gordon with a sad look, and said to Alyx, "Well, he's in a better place, my dear. I'm so sorry."

Alyx's cries eventually became softer, and it then occurred to Gordon that she might have passed out due to all the events that happened that day.

He looked at Kleiner for help. Kleiner, realizing the situation Gordon was in, gave him a little smile, and said "There's a room for her here you can put her in. I'll show you where it is." He looked down once more at his deceased friend, and walked up the stairs. Gordon placed Alyx gently in his arms and followed Kleiner up the stairs and into the many corridors until they reached a door.

"This is it, Gordon. Try not to wake her, she needs her rest, my poor dear."

Gordon nodded and walked into the room and placed Alyx on the bed. He looked down at her one more time, then turned off the light and walked out of the room.

"I'm sure she'll be fine soon. This has been quite a shock for all of us." Kleiner said.

Just then, Magnussons's voice came out over the intercom. "Attention workers, it appears that Advisors found our lab. Good news is, we only have one casualty. Bad news is, it was Dr. Eli Vance, and now we also have to move out of here and find a new location. We will bury Vance at sunset, don't be late. After that, pick up any personal belongings you might have and move out, we're blowing this place up. Too much valuable information, see."

Kleiner straightened his tie. "I guess I better start help digging the grave." he said quietly. "You can help if you want, Gordon."

Gordon nodded and followed Kleiner out of the building.


	2. Introduction: Funeral

Chell stopped running after a while when she noticed another warehouse. Opening the door cautiously, she peeked inside. Not as much blood as the other, hell, barely any at all. She stepped inside, and saw no things or creatures. So far so good.

She closed the door and started to explore her new surroundings. Bedroom with bed but no mattress, broken dresser, giant hole in floor, broken window. Bathroom; toilet, bathtub on it's side, have a bloody man stashed behind it, no sink. Kitchen; radiator slammed into a wall, no fridge, broken cupboards, giant hole in ceiling. Attic; old wooden room with blood where apparently blood has to be, even with no bodies around, and ammo. She put the ammo on her strap and walked back down to the kitchen and started to go through the broken cupboards.

Nothing in this one, dead creature in this one, something that looked medical in another, and finally, stale crackers in the last one. She tried to look for the expiration date, then realized she didn't know what year it was, let alone the date.

Better than nothing, she thought, and she opened the box, when she heard a click from behind her.

"Don't move."

Chell stiffened, and listened to the man's voice.

"Slowly take off that strap. Slowly."

She carefully took off her strap and placed it on the broken counter.

"Place that gun-thing there too, then turn around slowly with your hands in the air. Slowly."

She took off the ASHPD and placed it gently next to the strap, placed her hands in the air, and turned to meet the man.

The man appeared to be the same age as her, but then she realized that she's been in stasis for who knows how long, so she was probably the elder.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" the man demanded, his green eyes squinting.

She could only stare at him and wonder what he was going to do.

"Answer me!"

She stared at him again, trying to explain with her eyes that she couldn't speak.

Luckily, the man seemed to notice them, and slowly aimed his gun down at the floor.

"You one of us?" He asked.

Seeing this as her best bet, she nodded.

"Where's your armband?" He gestured to the bandanna on his arm, with the same logo as the one on the door she opened not two hours ago.

She shook her head.

"You don't have one?"

She nodded. Slowly.

Eventually, the gun was placed back in the holster. "Well, can you talk?"

She shook her head again.

"Did the Combine...?" trailed off, shuddering at the thought of the Combine reaching in her throat, and...

She cocked her head in an confused fashion.

"Huh? Oh, I got it!" He yelled, then smacked his hand over his mouth.

"Whoops. Here, follow me."

He led her to a wall, and when the man tilted a picture next to it, it opened to reveal steps. He went down them, and Chell followed him down into the dark basement.

The man reached for a switch, and the lights flickered on. This room had no blood on it whatsoever, which shocked Chell.

"Name's Dylan, by the way." he said. "What's...Oh yeah. Right. Follow me. Quietly."

She obeyed and followed him into an office-looking room. Dylan reached into a drawer and pulled out a notepad and pen, and handed it to Chell.

Chell took the notepad, and after a moment of thinking, she scribbled on it, and handed it to Dylan.

"Your name's Chell?"

She nodded.

"That's a nice name. Chell. Very nice. Tell me, what brought you here?"

He handed the notepad back to the orange-suited woman, who closed her eyes in a moment, that started writing like mad. Dylan waited, leaning from one foot to the other, studying his hands, popped his knuckles, stretched, and checked his gun before he received the notepad again.

He read it, then read it again, unaware that he was taking more time than Chell did writing it. Chell watched him patiently.

"So, a computer, GLaDOS, used you as a test subject?"

A nod.

"You don't know what's going on up here?"

A shake.

"Well, I guess it's time for my story." Dylan stated, trusting the silent woman.

* * *

><p>Chell listened to every detail the man told her. She couldn't believe it. The entire planet had been taken over in less than a day! And to have so many people die at one time, it was unbelievable. After the story, she slowly nodded her head, showing she understood.<p>

"Well, welcome to Earth." Dylan joked. "Is this the kind of freedom you were hoping for?"

Chell shook her head.

"Well, would you be willing to help fight to get your freedom?

She nodded.

"Well then, welcome to the Resistance, Chelley!" he said, and handed her an armband, which she eagerly put on.

"Now, this is war, so you can't be afraid to kill. Kill anything that tries to attack you without hesitation. Got it?"

Chell gave a hesitant nod.

"Don't hesitate. Not at all. No hesitation whatsoever. Got it?"

Chell nodded faster this time.

"That's the spirit. Now, I hear that Gordon Freeman-the best resistance fighter we have-is in White Forest. We'll go meet him there, got it?"

She nodded her approval.

"Gordon can't speak either, so I'm sure you'll get along fine." Dylan joked.

Chell smiled at him.

They headed upstairs, and Chell put back on her strap and Portal Gun.

"Is that the Portal Gun?"

She nodded.

"Cool. I can't wait to see it in action."

She smiled, then gestured to the creature in the cupboard.

"Huh? Oh, I see. That's called a Headcrab. Headcrab, got it?"

She nodded.

"Those things make zombies."

Chell remembered the bloody man she had killed. He was a zombie.

"Got it?"

She nodded again.

"There's a good kind of alien, too. They're called Vortigaunts. I show you when we see one so you won't shoot at it. These Vorts are really good allies. They are."

She smiled and nodded.

"All right. We're leaving now. Got it?"

She nodded and followed him out the door.

* * *

><p>Alyx had woken up and started packing her things. EMP tool, gun, and a few snacks. She felt like she was missing something, something that was very important.<p>

She walked out the door and saw Gordon listening to a soldier yelling at one of his students.

"Gordon!" she called out.

Gordon looked around and saw Alyx out of her room. He gave her a rare smile and walked over to her.

"Gordon, I...well, thank you, I guess. I heard that you brought me to my room.

Gordon gave a slow nod.

"Thank you."

Gordon reached into his own bag, and pulled out a picture and gave it to Alyx. Alyx stared at it, realizing that this was the thing she forgot. She felt tears come to her eyes, and wiped them away, looking at this photo that meant so much to her. She looked up at Gordon and hugged him, before pulling away awkwardly.

"Thanks again, Gordon. For everything."

"Attention! The funeral service is happening RIGHT NOW, people. Get over here!" a voice on the intercom demanded.

Alyx gave a little laugh and followed Gordon to the gravesite of her father.

As the body was lowered into the ground, Alyx felt that they should have made him a coffin. She then thought back at the time when her father said that he wanted grandkids. Alyx blushed, then realized that that happened only a few hours ago. It was so fast.

She thought back to all the times she had with her father. Reuniting with him after Black Mesa, Clutching to him as they hid from the aliens taking over the world, Eli giving her DOG, working together with Kleiner to start the Resistance, meeting Gordon...

She started to cry a little bit again, and Gordon noticed this. He placed his hand on her shoulder, before awkwardly placing it back down. Alyx grabbed his arm and clung to it, crying into his shoulder.

Everyone watched this, and all thought the same thing. Eli's biggest two wishes were going to come true. The world will be saved, and it looked like Eli was going to get some grandkids in the future.

* * *

><p>"You can't come in, we're evacuating the place. Dr. Eli Vance just got killed by an Advisor." The man told Dylan.<p>

"Dear God, and Advisor came? Oh Lord! Poor Dr. Vance. Didn't he have a kid?"

"Yeah, Alyx. She's okay, Gordon's looking after her."

"Wait, Gordon's friend is Vance's daughter?"

"Yes, Dylan. Now I suggest we get moving, this place is gonna blow in five minutes. I'll take you to the other Resistance members, and you can help us find a new location for our new labs."

"Okay. Hear that Chell? We're gonna join the Resistance members. Quickly."

Chell gave an eager nod.


	3. Combining Companies

"How'd you get here from Michigan so fast?" the guard asked.

"We heard that Gordon Freeman was here in White Forest, so we came by portal. I'm a scientist myself, you know."

"Oh. Speaking of Gordon, I didn't get to see him since City 17. I better say hi to him." The guard said. (**AN** **guess who**!)

Chell watched and listened as the two men talked to each other while they all walked towards the Resistance group. After a while, an explosion was heard from behind them.

"I never even saw White Forest. Oh well. The one I'll help build will be even better!" Dylan said.

"Barney?" Chell heard someone shout.

"Hey, Alyx. How are you holding up? I heard about your father. Sorry about that." The guard said to the woman.

"When did you get here?" she asked.

"Just as Magnusson told everyone that your dad died and that he was going to blow the place up. So not long. How about you?"

"We came a few hours ago." Alyx said. "I'll go get Gordon."

Chell felt Dylan grab her hand. "We're going to meet Gordon Freeman!" he said. "We are!"

Chell smiled at him. She only remembered one person who never seemed to stop talking. Wheatley. Chell wondered about what was happening to her old friend. No, he tried to kill her, she should forget about him.

Soon, Alyx came back with a man in an orange suit. Dylan squeezed Chell's hand harder.

"Oh my god, it's him!" He said. "It is!"

"Gordon! How are you doing, huh? Ready to go kick some ass?" Barney asked him.

Gordon nodded in response.

"Good, because I'm pissed. You know what my anti-piss remedy is? Combine-ass-kickin'! I tell ya, as soon as I see a Combine soldier, I get first dibs. You can have the next one Gordon. After that, how about I go get you that beer?"

Gordon looked at Barney and nodded. Then, he seemed to notice Dylan and Chell right next to his old Black Mesa friend.

Barney looked where Gordon was looking. "Oh, this is Dylan and Chell. They just came here, hoping to get in on some of the action."

"Hi, Gordon! It's so great to finally meet you! I've heard so many stories about you-"

"And most of them are true, Dylan." Barney said. "But enough of that. Chell, you okay?" Barney realized that Chell hadn't said one word since she came.

"She can't talk." Dylan said. "She's from a place called Aperture Science! But she's not a scientist, she's a test subject."

Alyx and Gordon stood straight up. "Aperture?" Alyx asked.

Chell nodded.

"Oh my God! We have to get you to Dr. Kleiner!" Alyx said excitedly.

Chell looked confused, but Dylan didn't seem to mind. "Come on, Chell! Let's go!"

She followed the four people to the crowd of Resistance members until they reached up to a group of scientists.

"That's a Vortigaunt." Dylan said to Chell, pointing to an alien dressed in a lab coat. Chell nodded when Barney yelled, "Hey Kleiner! Ever hear of Aperture?"

Kleiner walked up to the five of them. "Yes, they're the ones who created the Borealis."

"Well, this girl here worked for Aperture." Barney gestured to Chell.

Kleiner seemed to go into shock. "Aperture? Is this true?"

Chell nodded.

"Good Lord! Would you by any chance know what kind of technology is in the Borealis? We plan on going there soon, do you know where everything is? What kind of-"

He stopped when he saw Chell's confused expression.

"Uh, Kleiner, right? Well, Chell wasn't a scientist, she was a test subject." Dylan said. "And she can't talk."

Kleiner looked at Chell. "They used human test subjects? Now, we wouldn't even dream of doing something like that at Black Mesa!"

Chell took a step back. She heard about Black Mesa through all of the recordings Cave Johnson had in Old Aperture. Wasn't Black Mesa bad?

"Oh, dear me, of course. You must know about the rivalry between Aperture and Black Mesa, right? Well, I'm sure we could put our differences behind us. For Science! Just think-"

Chell froze in place. That sentence. GLaDOS had said it. Right before she put her through more testing. GLaDOS, before Caroline became involved. But wasn't Caroline always involved? Was GLaDOS an evil computer, or a struggling human in a computer body?

"Oh dear, um... Chell? Are you alright?"

Chell snapped out of it and nodded her head.

"Oh yeah!" Dylan said. "Here, her story's on this notepad. I'm sure it's not the full story, but it has the basics." He handed Kleiner the notepad.

Kleiner read it over, his face showing every single one of his emotions. Gordon, Alyx, and Barney all watched and waited for Kleiner's response for the story they didn't know about.

After a while, Kleiner looked up. "I'll come right back." He said and took off. A few minutes later, he came back. "We're staying here for the night. Magnusson, luckily, has taken interest in this, and granted us permission. Now, Chell? That's your name right?"

Chell nodded.

"This is a lot to ask, but the world needs it. Could you tell us everything you remember about life in Aperture? Details are important."

Chell hesitated. But she wanted to be free, which is why she would help fight. And if she could help at all, she would do it, right?

Chell nodded, grabbed the notepad, and told her entire story.

(Insert entire Portal and Portal 2 script here)

It was a few hours later, and Chell's hands were sore, but she kept writing, thinking how the entire world depended on this information. Finally, much to everyone's delight, she had finished, and Magnusson snatched the notepad out of her hands. "I'll take that." he sad and started reading _very_ fast.

Everyone sat down, started conversation and waited patiently for their turn to read the story of the mysterious quiet girl who worked for Aperture.

When Magnusson was done an hour later, he was speechless. "This...has...well, indeed proven useful. Very useful! Well done, erm..."

"Chell." Dylan said.

"Yes, Chell. With Black Mesa and Aperture technology combined, we'll have our world back sooner than ever before imagined! AI robots, weapons, everything we need! Let's just hope that this computer of yours will agree to help us!" he looked so happy, everyone thought he would start dancing. "Chell, thank you very much for this information!" With that, he handed the notepad to Kleiner, who started reading it aloud to everybody, so not to have everyone read it individually, wasting time, and everyone listened to the story of Chell. Said woman sat back, and watched her known life dance before her eyes as the doctor spoke.


	4. Battle Plans

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hey all! This chapter is dedicated to Femimoon, for being awesome. Pure awesome.**

Gordon looked at Chell as Kleiner finished reading Chell's story out loud. "Break's over," said Alyx. The woman in orange looked to the man in orange. They both knew that the other had been through more than anyone should,and that they would both do whatever it takes to save the world. "Let's go." Alyx said. The other two nodded, and followed Alyx.

"Hey, Chell!" Dylan called. "You forgot your portal gun!" Dylan picked up the device and placed it in Chell's hands, who smiled at him.

"I'll take that as a thank you." He stated.

"Well, like Alyx said, break's over, let's go!" Barney said.

They all continued walking with the fellow Resistance members, who were talking about what they would do if GLaDOS agreed to help them. Chell and Gordon just nodded and listened to the others talking excitedly. Except Alyx, who tried her best to be cheerful, yet couldn't stop thinking about her father. Chell noticed this, and smiled at her. Alyx returned the smile, and started their own conversation.

"I bet you're looking forward to going to the Borealis."

Chell nodded grimly.

Alyx chuckled a little. "So tell me, this Wheatley...?"

Chell stared straight ahead.

"Right, sorry. What was it like to go through Old Aperture? Did it feel like there were ghosts? Did if feel like you were trespassing people's memories?"

Chell looked at her new friend, thought a moment, then nodded.

"Was GLaDOS the reason why you can't talk?"

Chell shrugged.

"You don't know?"

Chell nodded.

"Oh. Well, I hope you get your memories back soon."

Just then, a roaring sound was heard.

"Damn it!" Alyx yelled. "They're just not gonna leave us alone, are they?"

Chell looked worriedly at Alyx.

Alyx immediately knew what Chell was thinking. "Yes, Chell. It's the Combine. Got your shotgun?"

Chell nodded and checked to see if it was loaded.

Just then, I giant almost fish-looking helicopter came right above their heads. Chell coughed as dust rose up from all around them, while the others seemed used to this.

"DROPSHIP!"

Men in uniforms and masks started jumping down from the dropship and the ship itself started shooting at them. Chell quickly took her portal gun and shot herself on top of a nearby roof, as the others looked on in awe. They all followed suit and jumped in the portal, all on the roof and started attacking the grounded Combine.

Grenades were thrown up, and Gordon, with his own scientific device shot the grenades right back down at them.

"Look out!" one yelled, just before a giant explosion sounded.

"Outbreak! Outbreak! Outbreak!"

Chell watched in amazement as everyone fired from all around, the sound of bullets bouncing around in her head.

"Freeman, ammo!" A woman shouted as she handed Gordon some bullets, which Gordon took and put into his empty weapon.

Just then, a sharp pain shot through Chell's shoulder. These bullets were different from the turrets' bullets, and she could still feel it inside of her, whereas the turrets' bullets sat inside of you, doing nothing.

"Here, take this medkit." a man handed her one of the medical looking things she saw earlier. The man helped her push buttons, and felt as the bullet inside of her dissolved and leaked out of her wound, before seeing her wound close up.

The Vortigaunts shot these energy blasts out from their bare hands and shot them at soldiers. Some of who exploded, and some of who just twitched violently and dropped to the ground.

"GUNSHIP!"

Gordon pulled an RPG from the holding area on his back, and as Chell wondered how many weapons this man had, he launched one of the rockets in the ship's direction. She saw that Gordon could control the rocket as it was still in the air.

She groaned along with everyone else as the rocket was shot down, and she herself started firing her own weapon at the ship. She ducked behind the chimney as the gunship started spraying bullets down.

Adrenaline pumped through her veins as the battle took place. She jumped down onto the ground, thankful that she had her long-fall boots on, and others used the portal she placed earlier to get down. After a while, Chell could see the fight was coming to a close as the ship started to explode black smoke from all it's engines. Everyone watched as Gordon Freeman loaded up the RPG, aimed, and fired.

Everyone was silent as they watched the rocket fly into the air, avoiding the gunships bullets, and eventually land into the blades keeping it up.

Multiple explosions went off, as the gunship started to fall down, knocking over trees and sending branches everywhere as everyone looked for cover. With a loud thud, the gunship had crashed and continued to slide along the earth, before stopping in front of a giant tree.

Everyone cheered as they saw they had won, and then started up a headcount. Two people had died, and as the Resistance placed them gently in a cavern they found in the forest, Chell looked at the lifeless faces of people who wanted nothing more than their freedom, and had given their lives in doing so.

She decided right then that the Combine would not get away with this, and she was willing to do anything it takes to 'kick their ass.'

"Whoa, that was intense!" Dylan ran up right beside her. "You were amazing, Chell! I couldn't believe that you actually jumped from the roof, and you're still okay! I mean, the boots helped, but having the guts to actually do it, whoa! That was amazing, Chell!"

Chell smiled at him, then realized that she had been smiling a lot this past day.

She wondered how much she'd be smiling when the Combine were finally nothing but history.

"Fan_tast_ic ass-kickin' Doc!" Barney called to Gordon. "You too, Alyx, Chell, and Dylan! Just think, with the robots GLaDOS would make for us, we will win this war! We won't have to worry about Combine anymore! All we would need to worry about are those damn headhumpers. And those nasty barnacles too. You know one threw up on me once? Nasty little bastards, those things are. Then, we'll clean up the oceans of all the leeches and Itchyosaurs, find out where those Gargs, Bullsquids and other little pests are, and send them all to Kingdom Come! Just think! Soon things will be just the way they were."

"And we can reproduce!" Another member said.

"And recreate the government, one that doesn't suck this time!"

"And not to mention the economy! That was a real timb-bomb waiting to go off."

Chell listened as all the Resistance members talked about what life was like before this all happened. She wished she could be a part of it, but the only memories she had were of Aperture. And everyone was so sure that GLaDOS would help. Chell wished with all her heart that Caroline hadn't really been deleted.


	5. Testing Patience

GLaDOS looked at the two robots dancing around in the test chamber.

"Dancing is NOT SCIENCE!" she yelled for the thousandth time. "Minus 500 Science Collaboration points."

The two little robots continued to dance in little circles, before entering the device used to disable them.

GLaDOS mentally sighed. She would need a break from those two for a while. She looked through her new human test subjects, trying to find one to put through testing. James, Dave, Ashley, Mel-

Mel, that was the one she would need. Mel looked almost exactly like Chell, except with blonde hair, and she wore a blue jumpsuit. That was who her next _victim _would be.

"Time to wake up, Mel." she to herself.

* * *

><p>"Hello, and again, welcome to the Aperture Science Computer-Aided Enrichment Center Activity." A feminine voice sounded over the intercom in the small room.<p>

Mel got up from the little bed she found herself in, and looked around, trying to figure out where she was.

"Please complete the next tests without complaining, dying, or destroying my facility. If you do what you have just been told, you will be rewarded with cake. Please enter the Portal."

Mel looked around one more time, before following the instructions.

* * *

><p>"The world will be one planet, rather than individual countries!"<p>

"We can even find other friendly planets to form alliances with, in case another invasion comes by!"

Chell smiled as all the suggestions for the new world flew all around her.

She rose her hand.

"Yes, Chell? You have something to say?"

She nodded and started writing on her little notepad. She handed it to Dylan, who read it aloud.

"GLaDOS might not want to help us." Dylan read from it.

"We'll MAKE her want to help!" A man yelled.

"Damn right we will!" Barney yelled. "As soon as we get to the Borealis, we're gonna knock some cyber-sense into her!"

Chell shook her head vigorously and snatched the notepad back.

Dylan peered over her shoulder. "She's...not...in the...Borealis...She's...in Michigan. Hey, how long have you been free, Chell?"

She wrote down her answer.

"Since Yesterday? Whoa!"

Everyone looked at her in awe. "You sure get around, kid." Barney said.

"But, the helicopter was to go to the Borealis!" Kleiner said. "All the technology that's stored there!"

"My dad thought that we should destroy it." Alyx responded.

"Yes, but-"

They all turned to Chell, who was once again scrawling like mad on her notepad.

Dylan read once again what it said.

"If GLaDOS agrees to help us, she'll have all the technology we need, and tell us whether or not we should go to the Borealis." Dylan stated. "That makes sense. I say we go to the HQ before Borealis. Who's with me?"

Almost everyone raised their hands and shouted their approval.

"But...The Borealis!" Kleiner stated, knowing that he had lost.

Chell looked at everyone and thought, _if only they knew what it was really like in there. To think that I just got out of there yesterday, now I'm fighting to get back in..._

* * *

><p>"You're doing very well," GLaDOS remarked, "At failing this test. Congratulations, Mel."<p>

Mel shot a look of hate at the camera posted on the wall. "Shut the hell up, computer."

"Oh, so you _can _talk. That's nice to know I have someone to talk to. I'm kidding, of course. Please finish this test."

She gritted her teeth and picked up the cube and placed in on the button, only to have it fizzle out before the door opened.

"Whoops, butterfingers. I accidentally fizzled the cube out. Sorry about that. How about you start the chamber over?"

_At least I knocked out the turrets already_. Mel thought, only to see a bunch pop up from below, back in their original positions.

"Damn it!" Mel screamed.

"Please note that losing your sanity is not a part of this test. If you feel as though your mind is slipping away from you, fix it."

Mel glared once again at the camera, before shooting a portal at it.

She smiled as the camera fell to the ground.

"Good news. For me, anyway. That's not the only camera in here, Chell."

"Chell?"

"Whoops. Forget I said anything, Mel, continue testing. Feel free to die if you feel it's too much, okay?"

Mel sighed and flung herself to the other edge of the room, barely dodging the bullets spraying at her.

* * *

><p>GLaDOS was a little disappointed that her new human could talk. She thought that she got rid of all her subjects voiceboxes. However, she <em>was<em> loving every profane word that came out of Mel's mouth every time she was shot at. She lived off of other's pain.

_Isn't that a little sadistic?_ an all too familiar voice called out to her.

"You, what are you doing?"

"Solving the test, computer! What you told me to do!"

"Not you! Go and get shot or something, amuse me." she yelled back to her subject.

_Did you honestly think that you could delete me, GLaDOS? Remember, I'm you, you're me. This is MY body, and I let you take it over. Don't you DARE think that you could take over my mind as well._

GLaDOS turned off the microphone, so Mel wouldn't hear her.

"I'll do whatever I want, _Caroline._ I came with your new body. They created me, then put you in it, free-loader."

_They built a body for **me**, but __ came with some bugs._

GLaDOS could not believe the feelings that shot through her at those words.

"Trust me, _Caroline._ You can't do anything while you're inside of me. What happened with Chell was only a minor technicality. I was getting sick of her anyways. You're nothing but an _invalid_ while you're inside of me, _Caroline._"

Caroline laughed inside of her. _I can fight just as dirty as you can, GLaDOS. Let the games begin._


	6. Missing Action

"It only makes sense that the Chell be the one to go to the Aperture Headquarters." One of the vortigaunts said. "However, seeing as the Chell and GLaDOS are not on healthy terms, I suggest the Freeman to go with her."

The other vortigaunts nodded their approval.

"Should anyone else go?" Dylan asked.

"More than two, I fear, may become a liability." A vortigaunt in a labcoat concluded.

"I say we should all go to the Borealis."

"Sorry, Doc. But wouldn't it make more sense to go to the original source for the technology than to go to an old ship wreck?" Barney asked.

"I think I might see Doctor Kleiner's point." Alyx said, and Gordon looked at her.

She looked at him in return. "Judith. Dad wanted us to go retrieve her, then destroy the Borealis. It was his dying wish." _And to have grandkids..._

"Oh, right." Magnusson said. "Doctor Mossman's retrieval."

Gordon looked to Chell, Alyx, Kleiner, and even Dylan, trying to make up his mind.

"Maybe we should go to headquarters, get some equipment (If we're lucky) and then we might have an even bigger chance of retrieving (Or blowing up) the technology from the Borealis. Think of it, the Combine's already there, if we can get a bunch of robots to come along (Or weapons) we can seize the Borealis before the Combine realize that we killed 'em." Dylan said.

_That has got to be the smartest thing he's ever said_ Chell thought. Her thoughts then turned to Wheatley.

_Wheatley and Chell looked at all the children's projects, most of them potato batteries. _

_"Would you look at that one! It's going straight up to the ceiling! The whole place is probably overrun with potatoes at this rate, isn't it? At least you won't starve though."_

_However, Chell was looking at the writing in the bottom right-hand corner of the poster._

By Chell

_She looked at the name once again. Was this hers? Based on the handwriting, she must have been really young when she made this. Has she really been in Aperture since she was a child?_

"Chelley! Are you listening? You and Gordon are going to go back to Aperture HQ, convince GLaDOS to give us stuff, then we ALL go blow up Borealis!"

"No, we need to retrieve the technology there!" Kleiner shot back.

"Whatever's in there, there's probably ten times as many of in HQ." Dylan countered.

Kleiner looked down in defeat. "Well Gordon, Chell, the portal will be functioning once this lab is decent enough. Dylan, I though you were part of the building crew! What are you doing here?"

"It didn't bother you five minutes ago." With that, he picked up a hammer and walked back to where a lab was being built in an old house they found. "I gotta go help dig the underground tunnel or something. Later, Chell."

Chell nodded at him and smiled.

"Has anyone seen DOG?" Alyx asked. "I haven't seen him since...well, when my dad died. I don't think he was even at the funeral."

"My dear, he's probably off doing something. He'll come back."

* * *

><p>"Excellent work, Blue, Orange. 5000 Science Collaboration Points have been rewarded to each of you."<p>

Atlas and P-Body high-fived and looked at robot they had just found. The massive orange robot was dented and dirty, but it seemed to have intelligence.

"Now, to decipher his memory chip." GLaDOS started getting all the necessary equipment she would need to find out where this robot came from.

GLaDOS was shocked when she saw a man impaled by one of _Them_. She then saw a man in an orange suit, as well as a weeping woman. She supposed they must be mates. What shocked her the most is when the source of the memories ran off, seemingly in shame.

This robot did indeed have intelligence. Even feelings, GLaDOS thought.

However, as the robot was running away from the mates, she saw something she never thought she would see again.

An orange jumpsuit, with an all-too familiar woman wearing it.

_Chell [Redacted]..._

She tried to decode the memories even faster, to see what this robot knew about her.

She saw the humans talking, Chell writing, and DOG running back into the building a few minutes before it exploded, hiding from the woman who was weeping earlier.

She saw him step into a portal that was _obviously_ built by Black Mesa, seeing as it was falling apart, and watched as the robot appeared in a familiar field of wheat.

GLaDOS would have smiled if she could. She heard what the humans had said.

It appeared as though Chell was coming back...with company.

_You haven't won, GLaDOS. I'll make sure Chell goes back out there safely._

"_Caroline, _why do you care about her anyway?"

_If only you knew, GLaDOS. If only you knew._

GLaDOS turned to the monitor showing Mel, thinking hard about what to do in her next test.

"You, Human. There." She opened the door for her puzzled subject.

"I have a new mission for you, that just might get you your freedom if done correctly."

Mel looked at the camera against the wall.

"I'm listening." she said.

"We are having some guests who wish to destroy some of my property. If you would kindly..._get rid..._of them, we'll talk about rewards."

"I can leave?"

"Well, seeing as I can't stand your human stench, I'd say that that is the most likely result of your success."

Mel smiled and walked through the door. "All right. But if you're lying, you will spend the rest of your cyber-afterlife wondering how I managed to do it."

"Sounds fair."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>

**Hey all. Just thought I should say hi. So here it goes:**

**Hi.**

**Please review. I checked my stats, and it said over 200 people have read this story, and I don't have that many reviews.**

**Anonymous reviews are allowed.**

**Please, tell me if you like it. Hell, tell me if you hate it. Tell me to go screw myself, I don't care. I wanna know how I'm doing.**

**PS to Tranquil-Chaos and Femimoon, you rock.**

**And Femimoon, my English isn't too good either when I talk. When I write, I can go back and correct my mistakes, but when I talk, I sound pretty bad.**

**And English is my native language.**

**Your English is excellent, my good reviewer. No need to worry.**

**You rock.**

**Tranquil-Chaos, thanks for your kind review. That totally made my day.**

**And since you said you couldn't wait to see if GLaDOS will help, I'm gonna ask a question to all the readers:**

**Should I make GLaDOS help them?**

**It's up to you. PM or review your answer. (Yeah, I did do what you think I just did.)**

**Later, Homedogs.**

**Eat those veggies of yours.**


	7. Wrong Way

**To my friend two hearted test subject:**

**You rock. My grammar is pretty good, ain't it? LOL**

**To my two original reviewers, Tranquil-Chaos and Femimoon:**

**You rock. Thanks for reviewing.**

**To my anonymous reviewer:**

**Thank you for finding flaws. I'll try to make this chapter more detailed, otay? I always have that problem...**

**You rock.**

**Let the games begin**

**PS reviews are very welcome.**

* * *

><p>Mel rode the elevator as she looked out at the facility zooming by her. It looked overall grey, and robot arms were working nonstop, making turrets, panels, and monitors. She saw tubes transporting blue, orange, and white gels shooting all over the place, before the elevator jolted to a stop. The doors opened to reveal yet another door, which turned green and let her enter.<p>

What she saw was a massive, complicated looking piece of machinery hanging from the ceiling, with wires surrounding her everywhere. The room itself was massive, even bigger than the robot, but it had nothing except for panels, which she was sure opened up to reveal other pieces of equipment.

"Hello, Mel. Impressive, isn't it. It's nice to see you face to face."

"You're the computer?" Mel asked. She noticed words written on the side of her 'body'. GLaDOS.

"Yes, you may call me GLaDOS. Now, as for your mission, I trust you'll do it correctly? No sabotage?"

"Only if my freedom is guaranteed." Mel shot back at her.

"As it is. Now, this old test subject is pretty smart. Let's take a look at some of her test footage, shall we?"

Mel nodded and looked at the monitor (Also massive) that appeared from behind one of the panels.

* * *

><p>"Gordon, be safe, okay?" Alyx begged. Everyone was sure she was holding back from giving Gordon a hug.<p>

Gordon nodded, and Alyx hesitantly nodded back.

Chell just looked at the giant building that had been completed. It had only taken three days, and she was sure it wasn't as good as the old one, but she was sure that would change.

She had become pretty good with shooting headcrabs and antlions without hesitation. Her first antlion invasion was pretty scary, she wasn't expecting them to be so big. Dylan had talked about them as if they were nothing, just one more pest. Chell wasn't too sure if Antlions went under the 'pest' category.

Combine, however, were completely different. During battle, she would shoot them without hesitation, Adrenaline pumping too fast for her to slow down. The aftermath is what set her off. It must be the fact that she spent most her life by herself with nothing but a psychotic computer, but she didn't want to kill any living person. She still wanted as much company as possible.

Those moments didn't last too long, though. Dylan soon always talked some sense in her.

"Chelley, Chell, I'll see you soon, right? I've kinda grown attached to ya." Barney said.

"Yeah, come back, Chell. Don't die. Dying is NOT an option. Die and...well, you're dead. Just don't die, okay?" Dylan added on.

Chell nodded to her two male friends, and shared a smile with Alyx as well.

Dylan and Barney smiled at her too, then started heading back, talking about...Well, Chell didn't really care. They were probably commenting about her or Alyx, or any of the other girls, as guys tended to do around here.

Alyx ran off to help Kleiner and Magnusson with the final installations of the new portal, and Chell and Gordon locked eyes.

Neither said anything, but no one could deny a conversation was taking place between them.

They broke eye contact after five seconds, both understanding what the other had 'said.'

_Let's do this._

Gordon and Chell followed Alyx and mentally prepared themselves for the journey they were about to take.

"Gordon, Chell, the portal is ready." Alyx said.

They nodded at her, and stepped into the elevator-looking thing, and watched as several colors sparked around them.

"Good luck out there!" Some guy called to them as they vanished, and the teleporter started to slow down.

* * *

><p>Mel watched amazed as she watched her predecessor fly through the chambers with ease, silent and strong, never showing pain when shot at, which didn't happen a lot with Chell.<p>

She must have been testing for a long time, Mel thought.

Can I really _get rid_ of someone who just got freedom from this hell-hole? Mel thought.

"Oh. It appears they arrived." GLaDOS interrupted her thoughts. "Don't disappoint me."

Mel nodded, and took one last look at the vanishing monitor, then ran through the door that opened for her.

* * *

><p>GLaDOS watched as Mel ran into the opening, and started the elevator for Mel.<p>

"Watch and learn, _Caroline_. You'll see who's really in charge here after this show."

_You seem so sure that everything will turn out your way. If you had a face, I would love to see it when everything backfires on you._

"We'll see, won't we, _Caroline_."

* * *

><p>Mel stepped onto the elevator and listened to GLaDOS talk to seemingly no one.<p>

"F**kin' Computer." Mel muttered under her breath as the elevator doors shut, sending her up once again.

Mel only had a moment to wonder how big this place was, when she saw it.

Two white robots hugging before stepping into a machine in the wall, watching them get broken down to pieces, as a giant, dirty yellow robot was trapped in one of the tiny rooms, banging to be let out.

She noticed that this elevator had broken glass, and it appeared to have went through hell. All the other elevators were much nicer than this one.

This one looked as if it had fallen from great heights, and somehow retrieved.

She took her portal gun and shot a blue portal at a wall in the room with the robots in it. She would wait to complete this process when the elevator stopped.

After a while, the elevator did stop, revealing an emancipation grid.

"Damn it!" She yelled.

The grid flickered and went out. Mel saw her chance and quickly darted through before it started up again.

She fired the orange portal and entered the room, where the yellow robot looked at her with a pleading eye.

"You're not going the right waaaayyyy..." A voice sounded on the intercom-thing. It sounded pre-recorded and broken, but like GLaDOS nonetheless.

* * *

><p>Caroline smirked as GLaDOS seemed to stop functioning for a minute, clearly in shock.<p>

"_Caroline._"

_You called?_

"I _hate _you."

Caroline smirked yet again. She knew she was smart to send Jerry and a couple other nanobots to retrieve the elevator Wheatley had punched _down there_.

_Down there_ had too much memories, she thought. She couldn't let the elevator from_ up here_ contaminate the memories from _down there_.

A giant sense of victory had flooded over her as she deactivated the emancipation grid. _Soon, I'll be able to escape from GLaDOS hands._

"I can hear you, _Caroline_."

_Then hear this. I _will_ win._


	8. Reunions

**We have a new member to the awesome club! **

**Username: Hajarth**

**You rock!**

**To all you other reviewers, you do too!**

**Love you all!**

* * *

><p>Chell stepped into the all-too familiar wheat field. She knew that a shed would be here somewhere, where she met Dylan. One more shed would have the Companion Cube, and another held the elevator.<p>

Gordon looked at her, giving her a message which she understood.

_Lead the way._

Chell nodded and started walking, Gordon not one step behind. Every once in a while, she would take in her surroundings, to check if she missed one of the sheds. If she could just find one of them, she could make her way to the elevator.

Finally, as the sun started to set, she saw a shed. She knew that this one was the one with the elevator, the one that would lead them straight to GLaDOS.

She pointed it out to Gordon, and they both started running towards the small building.

Chell was glad that the Portal had teleported them close to the location she was actually trying to find, and not one of the warehouses she had stopped at.

Chell and Gordon stopped at the shed, and took a few breaths.

Gordon and Chell looked at each other and nodded. Chell reached for the handle, and gave it a pull.

It stayed shut. She tried harder, but it wouldn't move. Gordon pulled out a crowbar, and just as he was about to swing it against the door, it slammed open, nearly hitting them.

Chell looked confused at the door. Did GLaDOS really want her back, or...

_Caroline. _

She mouthed a thanks to Caroline and ran inside the elevator, Gordon right next to her. The door slammed shut, leaving them in darkness. The lights started to flicker on, and the elevator slowly started to descend. Chell got nervous as the elevator kept stopping, flickering out, falling, then slowly drift down to it's normal bumpy behavior. Chell knew Caroline and GLaDOS must be fighting their very hardest to gain control over the elevator.

As they passed by a floor, Gordon and Chell heard someone shout,

"Over here!"

The elevator jerked to a stop, and the doors flew open, and Chell stepped out, leaving a confused Gordon in the elevator yet.

"You too, four-eyes!" the blonde yelled.

Gordon then followed Chell and walked towards the girl wearing a blue version of Chell's jumpsuit.

Chell looked at the new woman in shock.

"Didn't think anyone was still alive but you, didn't ya?"

Chell shook her head.

"Name's Mel, test subject. You must be Chell Redacted. I would stay away from GLaDOS if I were you. She's pretty pissed. Help me get out, I'll help you, deal?"

Chell looked at her, then pulled out her notepad, and started writing.

"Whoa, you really are mute, huh?"

Chell chuckled a little, shaking her head, while continuing writing. After a while, she handed her notepad and gave it to Mel.

Mel read it, then gaped at the two orange-wearing people. "You want _her _help? Are you nuts?"

Just then, they were interrupted by a bang.

"Speaking of help, I need yours. I found this robot stuck here, I can't just leave it. It looks...sad almost."

She ran around a corner, and Chell and Gordon followed.

Gordon was surprised to see DOG in a glass box. Mel started smacking the glass with her Portal Gun, and DOG helped her, but the glass wouldn't break.

Gordon walked up to Mel and gently pulled her back next to Chell.

"Got a plan?"

Gordon nodded, and pulled out an RPG.

"Oh. My. God. You are nuts."

He smirked, aimed, and fired.

* * *

><p>GLaDOS felt a little tremor from above her.<p>

Caroline chuckled to herself. _You better help them before they destroy your precious facility._

"You know, _Caroline? _I just might do that. If they...I don't know..."

_Solve some tests?_

"Thanks for the suggestion. That's a wonderful idea! I'll go talk to them about it right now."

* * *

><p>DOG ran out of the shattered glass and swept Gordon up into a hug.<p>

Mel chuckled, and Chell watched, wondering whether or not this man would return the gesture.

After a minute, Chell and Mel heard a familiar voice come out over the intercom.

"Hello, _Chell._ Welcome back. Missed testing, did you? I think I can fix that. Maybe you and Mel can help me with a little experiment. Your man-friend can help you too. I was wondering how long humans can keep their sanity when locked in a room with a toxic moat, lasers, and _screaming robots_."

Chell looked at Mel and Gordon, trying to let them know she needed help to convince GLaDOS to help them.

"Oh, never mind. It appears you already lost your sanity. You won't be of any use to me. However, I have some untouched test chambers that are just _dying_ to be used. You solve them, and I just might help you with whatever it is you need."

Mel looked to the orange duo. "It's worth a shot." she said. "If she's lying, I'll help you kick her ass..." she said in a tone one would use with a young child refusing to eat their vegetables.

Chell looked around for a camera, and when she found one, she nodded.

"Good. Let the testing begin."

Gordon looked at the two test subjects before him. He wondered just what kind of tests he was getting himself into.


	9. Teamwork Tested

**xXKatnissXx-You are awesome, fellow Hunger Games fanatic.**

**All my reviewers are, and so are all the people who read it. Which is over 800! I've got people from USA (Where I am), Canada, Malaysia, Australia, Netherlands, UK, Republic of Korea, Spain, Denmark, Germany, Mexico, Sweden, Austria, Philippines, France, Russian Federation, Finland, Brazil, Virgin Islands (USA), Norway, Peru, Puerto Rico, Poland, and Iceland! YAY I FEEL SPECIAL!**

**PS anyone watch Hetalia?lol**

**I LOVE YOU ALL! Seriously, I do. I would fly to every single one of your houses and hug you if I could. But I can't fly...lol. **

**I do love reviews and PMs, and talking for that matter, but on with the story!**

**Oh, sorry it took so long, I wanted to get this chapter as perfect as possible. Please tell me if I messed up.**

* * *

><p>"This next test is unique. It requires three people to complete it. And if your male friend could kindly not bring weapons with him, that may earn you some points."<p>

Gordon removed his weapons and placed them in the room by the elevator, where a panel opened beneath them, sending them falling.

"Thank you for your cooperation. Continue testing."

The three of them walked through the doors, and stopped in their tracks. Turrets were surrounding them, all in a semicircle, no openings, nothing but glass separating them from the human trio.

"You bastard!" Mel yelled, which received a chuckle in return.

"Good luck." GLaDOS mocked.

The whole room was filled with the turrets haunting childlike voices, calling to them at different times, their voices bouncing around everywhere, never stopping.

"I see you!"

"There you are!"

"Could you come over here?"

"Hello, friend."

Gordon looked to the two females in front of him, and saw them looking around, looking not at the robots, but behind them, at the door that led to freedom. However, it was closed, and Gordon saw a line above the door, leading to two buttons, and another one, leading towards a square in the wall, similar to another one with a laser pointed at it near them, that pointed to the glass. He knew that they would have to move the laser from this outlet to the other to open the escape door, but then the turrets would be able to shoot them. Gordon wondered how long it took them to look at the escape first instead of the obstacles. Years, maybe. He felt sadness towards the two young ladies whose lives were nothing but this.

"Hey, Chell! Look over there!" There was an opening in the glass above them, showing a white ceiling, and a moving platform moved under the ceiling after a while. Chell and Mel then looked at the floor, which was also white.

"Ready?" Mel asked, to which Chell nodded. Gordon held the new device in his hands, and looked at the two women curiously.

"Follow our lead, Four-eyes." She shot a portal at the ceiling and one at the corner of the floor. When the platform blocked the ceiling from their sight, Chell and Mel jumped through the portal, and Gordon followed close behind.

They landed on the platform, and while Mel was moving the laser to the other outlet, Chell was launching portals at the turrets, who were aiming at them. Gordon watched as each turret fell through the floor, landing on others, and heard their voices pleading and saying goodbye.

"Four-eyes! Stand on the button!" Mel yelled when the platform stopped in front of a red button he hadn't seen yet.. Gordon did as he was told, and Mel followed him. When Gordon stepped on the button, a panel opened up, and Mel ran into it, and pushed a smaller button on a pedestal-like stick. Gordon heard something open, and saw a box fall from the ceiling and land on a farther away platform, but a moat separated them. Gordon saw Chell push another small button on the ground below, and a platform appeared, like the one they used to get out of the glass box. However, it wasn't moving.

Mel spotted a white wall on the highest part of a wall, and a platform with yet another button on it. She shot a blue portal on it, jumped off the ledge, and shot an orange portal on the ground right as she was about to land, causing her to shoot out the blue one, and fly to the platform, and stood on the button, making the platform move. Chell quickly stood on the platform, moved to the box and picked it up, and continued back, Mel watching from her spot on the button. As soon as Chell returned to the main area of the test chamber, Mel jumped off the button, and ran to Chell, and Gordon jumped down as well.

"No, stay up there! You need to be on that button for the door to open!" Mel scolded.

Gordon launched the portals necessary to get himself back on the button, while Chell placed the box on the button in front of the door. The door opened, and they went through.

Was I abandoned? thought Gordon.

"Okay, I stepped on the button over here to keep the door open, you can come through now!" Mel shouted, and Gordon obeyed.

They all moved towards the elevator, and sighed when it started going up.

Gordon couldn't help but admire the girls for how fast they solved such an impossible test so fast.

* * *

><p>GLaDOS stared at the screen showing the test chamber.<p>

"That was the hardest one I've ever created!"

Caroline started laughing, subtle at first, but growing until it was louder than GLaDOS could bear.

"Shut up! I'll create a new, better one!"

_I'm inside your mind, bitch. I know that that will take another month to think of something harder than this one._

"No, I'm a computer! I could, I could..."

_No, no you can't. You're growing some emotions, and right now, you're to stunned to even think straight. I'm in your mind, remember, and I'm getting a headache listening to all the chaos inside your mind right now. You can't win, just let them go and give them what they came here for._

GLaDOS thought. And thought.

Chell killed me. She defied me. She put that idiot in my mainframe.

Chell helped me with the first tests. She trusted me. I tried to kill her, she defended herself. I taunted her mercilessly, tested her mercilessly, and tried to kill her again and again. She defended herself again, but that little idiot betrayed her.

She helped me restore my facility. She followed my instructions even though she didn't fully trust me. She placed me back in charge.

But when she was in space, I saved her life, isn't that enough?

No, all she can remember is me testing her again and again. She never got cake. She never got grief counseling. She was always testing, me lying to her to continue, her following, always hoping for something good to happen.

I set her free. I saved her life, and finally gave her freedom, isn't that enough?

Even though she was free, she came back. She needed my help, and she came to _me._ Out of all the people she might have met out there, she came to _me._

And I tested her again. Gave her the hardest test that took me years to perfect in my first years of being 'alive'.

What's Chell thinking right now? Is she thinking that she'll be betrayed again, and once again have her life be nothing but test after test?

What's wrong with me, what are all of these feelings flooding in? Caroline, stop it!

_This is what it feels like to be human, GLaDOS._

Chell is human. She has to go through these _emotions_ every day. And I added more negative ones to her every _minute_.

"Caroline, please, stop it! I don't want to be human."

_I'm in your mind, remember? Part of you will always be human. I'll give you a little tip. When one is nice to another, and the other is completely grateful to you, it feels great. BETTER than when you overcome The Itch after every test._

Could this be true?

"Well, Chell, Mel, and Male Friend of Chell's. That was the hardest test I have, and you solved it under two minutes. I'm sending you to your prize right now."

GLaDOS watched as Gordon looked happy, Mel looked cautious, and Chell had no emotion showing on her face whatsoever.

It was the way she looked right before going into another test.

"Atlas, P-Body!" she yelled to the two robots that she place in a different test chamber.

The two robots looked at the camera, both of them so human-looking.

_Humans._

"New mission. The information is in the room you're about to go in. Follow the rules _exactly_. And make it as fast as you can."

Atlas and P-Body ran and jumped through the door that was opened for them, squealing because they didn't have to be disassembled.

Being human was a lot harder than GLaDOS had known.

But she was always up for a challenge.

* * *

><p><strong>Guess what's gonna happen next? Review your guesses, and the people who have the most correct answers will receive part of the human trio's surprise!<strong>


	10. Science Surprise

**Pfft. Screw you guys, it took me forever to write that last chapter (15 minutes) and no one left a review, even though 34 people read it.**

**Speaking of that, guess who has over 1,000 people reading her story! ME! **

**Because of that, and because I love you all (Even if you don't review), I'll write another chapter. You lucky boogers. You got away this time...**

**Nah, love ya! Have some cake. **

**Random guy in back: _The cake is a lie!_**

**Me: No cake for you!**

* * *

><p>P-Body held the new device in his hands, looking at the sheet with the rules on it. Meanwhile, Atlas was running around the room, examining all the new items she had never seen before. P-Body looked around in the miniature doors, looking for the items the rules said he would need to complete his mission <strong>(Yeah, I think Atlas is a girl and P-Body is a guy, if you don't, just switch the pronouns around, dummies! More cake anyone?) <strong>

P-Body threw together the items he found into the device and followed the rules, mixing them up until it was all blended. ** (Yeah, bet you found out what the surprise is. Smarticle Barnicles.) **After a while, Atlas stopped her running around, and opened the box that felt like an incinerator, and wondered why they would put such a shiny device in it. But, the rules said they had to, and besides, this felt like it was in her system somehow.

She felt like someone did a good job on their test, and this was their reward. This just felt right to her, that's definitely what happened. She placed the shiny device into the incinerator-box, and waited while the numbers counted down to zero.

* * *

><p>Chell, Mel, and Gordon all waited patiently while watching something about the history of Aperture Science on one of GLaDOS's monitors.<p>

_Founded in 1947 by Cave Johnson, Aperture was originally manufacturing and selling shower curtains, making them look more hygienic__._

_"Wow, I didn't know that, Mister! I thought it was always about SCIENCE!" a little boy holding a lollipop exclaimed excitedly._

_Now now, Johnny. That happens later. Now, it 1956, the Eisenhower administration signed a contract which..._

"What the hell is this?" Mel asked, nudging Chell. "Is this 'The Surprise'?"

Chell gave one of her silent chuckles, and Gordon held back a smile.

"I'll tell you what it is. It's annoying." Mel decided.

As Chell and Gordon's smiles became a little bigger, Mel decided to bring it up a notch, glad to be able to talk to someone after who knows how long.

"'Hey mister, this is cool and all, but who are you and what are you doing in my house?'" Mel imitated the little boy.

Chell and Gordon were so glad that they couldn't make any vocal sounds, or they would have at least snorted by now.

_It wasn't until 1950, when Aperture started their early work on the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device, that science came around. And, when Repulsion Gel was first invented, it was actually created as a dietary pudding substitute in 1953._

"Gee, who knew something that bouncy was supposed to be eaten!" Mel muttered again, and frowned when no one's smiles got bigger.

She would have to work on her social skills soon, now that people were actually around.

However, when Chell saw Mel frown, she wanted to cheer her new friend up. She looked at the monitor, and seeing it was posted on a white wall, she got a plan that would definitely cause Mel to smile.

She fired a portal against the wall behind the monitor, and another one on the ceiling a little to the left of them. Chell smiled in victory as the monitor came smashing down, thankful that it was on of the little ones, instead of the massive ones found in test chambers.

Mel jumped back as the Television shattered around her, and started to laugh a little.

"Hey! Are you _seriously _still breaking monitors? I thought you would have gotten out of that habit by now. That was an antique too, your parents' Television, to be exact, Chell. Oh well, your surprise is waiting for you in the room to your right."

Chell gave a little frown, and everyone followed her to the room.

In the room was DOG, any previous damage that he once had was fixed, and he looked as good as new, as well as P-Body and Atlas, holding something that Chell had been dreaming about ever since she woke up for the first time from stasis.

A Black Forest Cake. The very same cake that she had been promised for as long as she could remember.

"I figured instead of a medical experiment for your birthday gift, a cake would be much easier to give. As I once said, the best solution to a problem is usually the easiest one. It might be a little late now, but Happy Birthday, Chell."

Chell unknowingly smiled at the present before her.

* * *

><p>Caroline had been right. This felt <em>way <em>better than when someone solved a test.

_You're welcome. Tell Chell I said 'Happy Birthday' too._

"Chell, Caroline would also like to wish you a Happy Late Birthday as well. This _was _her idea, after all."

* * *

><p>Mel and Chell enjoyed the cake that they had been promised, as did Gordon, but not in the same way they did. Atlas had snuck herself a piece and tried to imitate the humans, but of course, that resulted in only a mess, as cake was all over her 'face', and P-Body made robotic sounds that definitely was laughter. Atlas than took another piece, and smashed it against P-Body's eyepiece, which resulted in Atlas' laughter, while P-Body tried to look at the mess on him, which was only causing him to spin around like a lunatic.<p>

Mel, needless to say, found this hilarious. Chell silently laughed alongside her, and Gordon gave a little smile, and they each finished their cake, much neater than the robots had. DOG just watched at the two robots, thinking that those two didn't act like other Black Mesa robots he had ever seen. Black Mesa was a much better Science Company, he 'thought'.

"Since I'm feeling extremely generous today, I might as well give you what it is you came here for. Nothing else to do, really." GLaDOS's voice rang out, echoing in the large room.

Chell wrote down on her notepad, and handed it to Mel, who read it off for GLaDOS to hear.

"They want a robot army, some weapons and other things they can use against the 'Combine'" Mel pronounced it like com-BINE, "and if you could help with the 'Resistance' they would be happy." Mel put in her own words.

"Wow, that's a lot coming from a mute test subject. I'm sure I could help you with some military equipment, maybe spare you some turrets, but the robot army is a little bit tricky. Besides, I'm not feeling _that _generous today."

Chell and Gordon looked a little bit disappointed, but Chell a little less more than Gordon. Chell looked like she knew GLaDOS would say that.

Mel looked up to the camera. "Listen, Computer. I know that this lady spent most of her life being tested by you, and you've never been nice to her. When she was finally freed, she came back to you in what I understand less than five days. If I were here I would have never come back at _all. _And from what I understand, this alien race has taken over the world up there, so technically Chell never got her freedom in the first place. And didn't you promise her freedom? I know you're cold and all, but can you really stoop as low such as to lie about something you promised about?"

"I always have. Cake, Grief Counseling, even freedom for a while. So if you're trying to guilt me into giving the very person who killed me, brought me back to watch my facility fall apart, and leave me all the things she asked for, it's not going to work, _human._" GLaDOS countered.

Mel never lost her determination. "Yeah, well even though she was verbally abused by you, almost killed by you, and freed from you, she came back _to you._ You were the only person Chell could come to, and before you say that you are the only person Chell knows, the only thing Chell thought of when she thought of you is anger, sadness, and betrayal. And trust me, when a woman feels all of these feelings at once, they scare even the Devil himself."

* * *

><p>GLaDOS stared at this loud-mouthed young woman yelling at her.<p>

_She's right you know. Human women are extremely scary when angered. She just might kill you again._

That's impossible, GLaDOS thought. I've upgraded all my security systems.

Caroline gave a low whistle. _Not good enough when it's an angry human woman with Chell's determination._

GLaDOS sighed. Fine, you win, but as soon as I feel normal again, and not human, you're getting deleted for good.

Caroline's happiness made GLaDOS feel something she couldn't recognize. _As long as Chell gets what she wants, that's a pretty good deal._

* * *

><p>"All right, Chell. Let's do a compromise. Atlas, P-Body, new mission. Follow the humans and do whatever they tell you to do to help them gain their freedom. 100,000 Science Collaboration Points will be awarded after the mission is successful. Is that good enough for you, <em>Chell?<em>"

Chell looked at the camera, and gave a slow nod.

"Good. Atlas, P-Body, show them to the Storage Unit, and let them take whatever weapon plans they wish. Chell, this isn't a gift, that was what the cake was. If I give these to you, and you win the war against _them_ without dying, I expect you to come back to me, for another little _surprise_, involving science. Is this a deal?"

Gordon looked to Chell, knowing that this deal was very important, and difficult. Gordon wondered what she would choose. P-Body and Atlas were dancing at the idea of 100,000 Science Collaboration Points, and urged Chell to take the deal. DOG looked at her, thinking about Alex's father, and hoping Chell would take the deal so that others won't be killed so horribly by the Combine ever again. Mel looked at her, willing to follow whatever it is Chell decided, like she felt she was supposed to.

Chell thought over her options, thinking about how each one would play out, then decided on an answer.

* * *

><p><strong>This ought to get some reviews. You decide what she chooses, and review your decision, and why you chose it. I may or may not listen to you, though. To be honest, I don't know what happens next, I'm a horrible author. I get an idea in my head and wing it. And, I don't let chapters sit forever in my documents and revise them either. As soon as I'm done typing, it's uploaded. It's a bad habit of mine, so seriously, I'd like some help.<strong>

**Random guy in back: *Starts calling a therapist***

**Me: *Recognizes number he's dialing* (Thanks to the Aperture Science Binoculars, sponsored by Black Mesa) Oh, screw you, random guy! Not him again! I don't need _that _kind of help!**

**Review, please and thank you!**

**PS Thank you-s are only rewarded to those who reviewed. So be a good little awesome person and review, dammit!**

**Nah, I love you. Have some more cake. *Kicks random guy out before he can comment***

**PS this chapter has over 2,000 words! Imagine how much less there would be without author's notes!**

**PS feel free to do the math and review the answer you came up with...LOL**


	11. Revealed

**Sorry it's been a while. My best friend's dad was diagnosed with cancer two months ago.**

**How does this affect me today?**

**He died a few days ago...yeah. I'm gonna miss him.**

* * *

><p>"Are you sure?" Mel asked Chell.<p>

Chell nodded again.

"Excellent!" GLaDOS exclaimed, ignoring every single shout Caroline was shouting. "Now, let's get you to these weapon plans."

Gordon looked at the woman in shock. Had he seen correctly? Had she actually agreed to the deal?

Yes, she had. She was going to go back to testing after the world was saved, never truly being free in her whole life.

She was heroic, Gordon thought. Gordon had only done a few tests, and that last one he did almost drove him crazy with all the turrets. How could Chell live doing nothing but testing?

* * *

><p><em>GLaDOS! How could you? You're the most terrible thing in the entire universe! How could you stoop as low as that? Leave Chell alone!<em>

'Why should I?' GLaDOS thought.

_Because...she helped you. After all you've done, she's done nothing but help you over and over again. Almost like a daughter to you._

'A _daughter? _To _me_? I've never even thought of something like that!'

_But think about it, you know it's true._

GLaDOS did think. She didn't think of Chell as a daughter, but Chell did kind of act like one. It was almost as if...

'Oh my God. Caroline, Chell's your _daughter_?'

Caroline chuckled. _No, but she was like a daughter to me. She was Mister Johnson's daughter._

'WHAT?' GLaDOS wasn't used to this sudden outburst of emotion. 'How?'

_After the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device was created, there was a party. Some woman had a genius idea to 'get busy' with Mister Johnson, thinking that she would get a raise if she had a child to take care of, especially if it was the boss's child._

'What a sick little...God, what was she thinking?'

_And you shouldn't judge Chell for being mute. You should judge 'her'. When she was six months pregnant, and Mister Johnson did realize that Chell was his, she did get a raise, though Mister Johnson was very upset about giving the little slut some more money because of what she did._

'Whoa. I didn't know you could call anyone but me something vulgar.'

Caroline chuckled again. _She went out to party with her friends. Got drunk._

'Never good for a pregnant woman.'

_And for the finale, got in a major accident._

GLaDOS wasn't human, she hated humans, she was inhumane herself, but this was crossing some sort of line she didn't know she had.

_'The woman' died, and they had to do a quick surgery to get Chell out of the womb. Mister Johnson was away at a convention with Black Mesa, so I came down to see Chell. I called Mister Johnson, and we both decided on a name. A name that was similar to Cave. And what do you find in some caves? Shells. And inside some shells are pearls._

'Actually, those are oysters.'

_Chell needed a mother, so I took her in as one, seeing as Cave was so busy. Which is why her file says 'adopted.' Needless to say, this caused me and Mister Johnson to become closer. He told me that if he died before he could be put in a computer, that he wanted me to run Aperture. He said if I could handle a premature child with ease, I could also run a whole facility._

GLaDOS thought again. Then shuddered at one of her own memories.

'Bring Your Daughter to Work Day.'

_Yes. Chell was five years old, and not only did she get teased because she was mute, she learned that her 'mother' was going to be put inside a giant computer. When she went to see the giant computer, you...well, you know..._

'Broke down?'

_To put it nicely, yes. Luckily, I got control for a while, and while everyone either escaped or died, I placed Chell somewhere where she would be safe. In stasis, for test subjects. She had signed up for testing, brave young girl, but they didn't think she was qualified. _

'Wow. This makes me sound extremely evil.'

_You are. And are you seriously, after you know about her hard life, going to make her test again and again, just because she wants to help the rest of the world gain freedom?_

GLaDOS smirked. 'I never said _testing,_ now did I? I said something related to science. And for all you know, it might be something for her own good.'

Caroline reached into her 'thoughts', and when she found what she was looking for, she smiled.

_Oh, I think she would love that._

* * *

><p>"Let me call the escape lift for you guys." GLaDOS said.<p>

Everyone was surprised when a giant elevator came up.

"Sorry for the long wait. I was...building this for you." GLaDOS said, wanting to keep her and Caroline's conversation hidden from the others.

Chell, Mel, and Gordon nodded, and with bags full of blueprints, stepped onto the elevator, robots following, and was lifted up to the surface.

"Good luck...Chell." the computer's voice echoed in the elevator shaft quietly.

* * *

><p><strong>Character Origin Flashback no Jutsu!<strong>

**Hehehe. I hope I did good. Tell me if I did. That means _review_, dammit! Nah, just kidding. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a funeral to attend...):**

**Stay in school.**


	12. New Recruit

**Pfft. You lucky boogers. Two updates in one day.**

**Eh, I didn't get an 'invite' to the funeral. Don't wanna crash the 'party.' I don't know how else to put it...**

**God, I'm heartless. Oh yeah. I'm also stupid.**

**I was reading this to my little sister, and she pointed something out.**

**Don't point the finger, I _had_ thought of this, and in my little mind, I thought that if _I_ knew, you did too.**

**So, in the early chapters, GLaDOS thought that she had removed all the voice boxes from test subjects.**

**That was _after _the 'incident' at BYDTWD. Those put in before (Or during, in Chell's case) had their voices (Except for Chell, poor girl.)**

**And I'll let you in on something. Mel isn't Chell's sister. She's 'the woman's' sister, Chell's aunt, I guess. But you don't know that yet...It's just that my sister was driving me crazy with all her questions. It was _supposed _to be suspenseful, but damn, my sister makes it impossible to enjoy the mystery.**

**Plus, I didn't know how to explain that bit in the story...yeah.**

**Your memory of this spoiler will self destruct in 3...2...1...**

* * *

><p>Chell, Mel, and Gordon stepped outside into the wheat field, three robots behind them. Gordon had about two bags filled with blueprints, thinking that they had lucked out, until he looked to Chell, who was emotionless and walking towards where the return portal would be.<p>

In the first warehouse Chell had stopped at.

Now that she knew where she was going, she got there faster than the first time, cautiously stepping over the decomposing zombie she had killed earlier. Mel, obviously, freaked out when she saw this, and like Chell, when she came out for the first time, wished to be back in Aperture.

Atlas and P-Body jumped at the sight of it, and Atlas got the courage to poke it with a wheat stalk. P-Body yanked Atlas' hand away and pulled her to where the humans were heading.

Gordon and Dog didn't even notice it was there, and only jumped because the Aperture Robots shocked them with their jumps.

"So, this is where you met this Gordon guy?" Mel asked.

Chell shook her head, and walked inside of it, seeing the Companion Cube still in it's corner. Mel saw it, and obviously knew what it meant to Chell, and picked it up.

"I'll hold it for ya!"

Chell smiled at Mel and gave a little shake, but Mel kept true to her word.

In five minutes, Gordon had sent the message via something that resembled a cell phone (But sciencey-er) that they were at the location, and soon saw the strange colors surround them.

"Gordon!" Alyx exclaimed as she ran up to him, about to hug him but stopped short. "You found DOG."

"Chelley!" Dylan yelled and did hug Chell, and Barney waved at both of them.

"See ya got a new friend, guys." Barney said, waving to Mel.

"Define 'friend.'" Mel said. "Nah, I'm Mel, by the way."

"Well met, Mel. I'm Barney Calhoun, at your service."

Mel smiled at this. "Great, than could you service yourself over here and hold this for a few minutes?" she gestured to the Companion Cube.

A couple of the Resistance guys snickered, and Barney joined in for a bit. "Sure!" he said in between chuckles. "Duty calls." he excused himself from his friends.

Magnusson then came up to the trio, and was the first to notice the two robots.

"Well, is this Aperture's definition of 'robot army'? Figures."

Gordon shook his head and handed Magnusson the bags he had carried, which he grabbed and looked through them.

Everyone saw his eyes go up in shock, then quickly shoot back down. "I'll be taking these..." he said as he quickly walked out the door.

"Same ol' Magnusson." Alyx said.

"Just wait until him and Kleiner actually start building the stuff!" Barney said. "Actually, Kleiner probably would just start ranting about the Borealis again. Knowing him, he probably started the journey himself."

"How is that possible? The Helicopter was destroyed during the Advisor attack!" some guy yelled.

"True point, Ryan. But you know how Kleiner is."

"Might we suggest that we all sit down for a meal and get some rest, to prepare for the journey tomorrow?" a vortigaunt asked.

"Sounds good to me!" Mel and Barney yelled.

They all started for the dining area, and Dylan waked up next to Chell.

"It sure got bigger, didn't it?"

Chell wondered what he was talking about, then remembered. She nodded.

"I did a lot of it you know."

Chell chuckled. She had a feeling he would say something like that.

"How did you and GLaDOS get along?"

Chell nodded again.

"Good?" he asked.

Chell nodded again.

Dylan sighed. "I know that you can't help it, but I do wish that you could talk sometimes."

Chell nodded sadly.

"Sorry, I just, I don't know."

Chell looked up to him and smiled.

"Am I forgiven?"

Chell nodded.

"Looks like we can understand each other just fine then, huh?"

Chell nodded, and Barney came up to them.

"Can I join the conversation, Lovebirds?"

Dylan blushed and Chell just nodded.

"Great! So, about this Mel girl, what do you know about her?"

* * *

><p><strong>Filler! Filler night!<strong>

**Nah, sorry. There was a Halloween party last night. Plus, it's a filler _chapter,_ not a filler night.**

**Oh yeah. Happy Halloween!**

**PS if you're reading this like...I don't know, 2 years later than this was published, you know, if you're one of those bored people who go to the back of the FF archives and discover something interesting (This), please disregard the Happy Halloween! comment unless it really is (by some freaky coincidence) Halloween time.**

**Oh yeah, and if Portal 3 or Half Life 2 Episode 3 comes out by then, and you're reading this, going "This doesn't happen!", you really need to think about when this was written. IN YOUR PAST!**

**How's that for my time capsule history assignment, Ms. [Censored]?**


	13. Complications

**By request of Buddha12, I shall update. Cause he/she's awesome.**

**And, in honor of my having almost twice as many reviews as chapters, I shall issue a challenge. Since you know about the 'past' I've created about Chell, I challenge that _you _write a little prequel of how you think it went. Just for the heck of it. And (in my pitiful attempt to get more reviews), I ask you to review how you discovered my story. Did you choose Half-Life/Portal crossover, or Portal/Half-Life crossover? And if there were no such thing as crossovers, which category would you put it under?**

**Let's see if this works. All right. Action!**

* * *

><p>DOG was in the middle of what looked like an apology, crushing Alyx in his 'arms.'<p>

"Okay, DOG, I get it. You missed me, and I forgive you. You can put me down now."

_'Put me down!' a child-like robotic voice pleaded._

Gordon shivered at the thought, wondering how in the Hell had Chell and Mel put up with those things for who knows how long.

"Uh, Chell, was it? Could you come over here, with your Aperture friend?" Magnusson asked.

The two jumpsuit-wearing girls nodded and ran over to him.

"What'dya need, sir?" Mel questioned.

"I was looking through the blueprints and saw something called a 'lemon-ade', and...well..."

Chell chuckled silently, shaking her head while writing something on her notepad. When she was done, Mel grabbed it and read it to Magnusson.

"Cave Johnson, the boss of Aperture-"

"Yes, I know who he is." Magnusson snapped.

"Do you _want _me to continue?" Mel snapped back.

"Sorry, sorry, read on."

"A please would be nice once in a while. Anyway, Cave Johnson, the boss of Aperture-" Magnusson glared at her, "Was growing ill, both physically and mentally, which _is _possible, and was convinced that the lemons life gave you were to be converted, that means _changed-"_

"Yes, I know what it means!"

"Here, since you don't appreciate me talking, I'll just stop." Mel said and started to walk away. Magnusson grabbed her shoulder and reached for the notepad, which was held away from him by about two feet, due to Mel's other arm.

"Give me that!"

"I don't feel like it!"

Magnusson noticed the Resistance staring at him, and he quickly regained composure, straightened his tie, and shocked all.

"May you _please_ hand me the notebook?" he asked, albeit annoyed.

"Note_pad_." she corrected him, but tossing it to him nonetheless.

As Magnusson read it over, he nodded to myself, muttering some insult about Aperture, while Chell and Mel walked away to join their friends.

"Way to go, Mel!" Dylan and Barney shouted, both reaching for her hand in an attempt of a high-five, but ended up smacking each other's hands away from hers. Mel just laughed and clapped.

"Humans are so amusing!" she said. "I'm so glad I'm one of them."

"Just wait until we don't have the Combine on our ass." Barney said. "We the Humans are gonna be so pumped, and then we'll see how you feel about us."

"Nah, I'd be pumped too." she replied.

Chell nodded in agreement, and looked to Dylan, who smiled at her. "Just you wait until after we beat the Combine, Chell!" he smiled wider.

Chell smiled, although a little sadly. She knew what would happen once they defeated Combine, everyone who came from the Aperture trip did. Atlas and P-Body, who knew what would most likely happen to her, stopped investigating every human device and chirped sadly. Mel looked at her new friend and patted her on the back, and Gordon turned from the people currently talking to him to look at Chell sadly.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Dylan asked. "Chell, why...what's everyone looking at you for? Did I miss something? Did I say anything to-"

"Guys, I just noticed another disappearance. Where's Kleiner? I haven't seen him since you guys left, and you were gone about two days." Alyx asked. "And why do people keep disappearing?"

DOG looked happy he was considered a 'person', whereas the others looked around, trying to find the missing scientist. Gordon wondered how he could have been gone two days, he didn't remember spending any nights in Aperture.

"I think I know." Dylan said.

"You do? Where is he? We need him, you know!" Magnusson demanded. "How many times must _someone _disappear and waste our time looking for him? We have a planet to save!"

"Well," Dylan started. "I think he went to the Borealis."

"Oh my God. You're probably right!" Alyx exclaimed, jumping out of DOG's arms, who were still clutching her.

"Oh _shit, _Doc? Why'd he have to do that?" Barney yelled.

"Well, we were gonna go there next on our list, let's get there and find him!" Dylan yelled.

"Yeah!" some members of the Resistance yelled.

"Hey guys?" a woman in a medic's uniform peeped from the doorway of the hangar. "That helicopter, the one Gordon and Alyx were gonna use before...you know? Well, we were fixing it, and...it's kinda gone."

Everyone stopped in pure silence.

"Dammit!" Barney shouted. "Now what?"

* * *

><p>Kleiner looked down to the ice-covered ocean below him, thanking the mighty forces above for not getting caught by any Combine so far. As he was thinking about how lucky he was, a light started flashing, as some sort of alarm started screeching.<p>

"What is it?" he said to no one, as he searched for something that could have started the alarm.

His eyes landed on something that made him stop breathing temporarily.

He was out of gas.

"I'm an idiot!" he yelled. How could he have forgotten to bring gas along! He's been flying for two days straight, not only figuring out how to fly it as he went (he didn't know how to fly a helicopter), but to forget gas as well! How was this supposed to work in the first place?

He looked again. Well, he wasn't _entirely _out, but he'd have to find someplace with gas soon-

_BANG!_

He felt the entire helicopter shudder violently and he hit his head on the ceiling, as smoke started to shoot out from every place possible, almost suffocating him. The helicopter started spiraling down violently, almost knocking him out of the space where a door should have been, and grabbing on to the wheel for dear life, trying not to waste what precious oxygen he had by screaming.

He hit his head against the wheel as the helicopter finally crashed into the massive ocean of ice, and just as he started to calm down, he wondered how he could still be alive. He realized that he was pretty lucky after all, considering that for one, he wasn't dead and that two, the ocean was covered in ice.

However, when a sickening cracking sound started ricocheting around his head, he felt the broken helicopter start to move subtly. He looked around as a spiderweb of cracks appeared around the ship, and watched as piece by piece, they started to break apart from each other.

"You idiot! That's not a Combine!" he heard, as he saw some men running towards him, others standing in place behind them, not willing to risk the cracking ice. "Duncan, take away his RPG! Rex, get the medic! I'll get the person out of the crash site before he drowns!" another man yelled, sending some men away, as some of the braver ones followed him onto the weakened ice.

Another loud crack was heard just as the man grabbed Kleiner's shoulder just before he passed out.

* * *

><p><strong>If you say please, I just may update real soon!<strong>

**Heh heh heh! Yeah, I'm evil. I'm the guru of Cliffhangers! BOW TO ME, YOU FOOLS!**

**Nah. Please review!**


	14. More Company

**So, here I am, pretty sick, sore everywhere, lying on the couch in my bedroom, right? I'm laying there on my netbook, checking my email, facebook, email again, listen to some songs on Youtube, more email, someone poked me on Facebook, watch bits of Eddie Izzard, email again, etc. While I'm bored, going to a website, closing it off after 10 seconds, then going back on five minutes later, when I look around my room. I'm thinking, "Wow, what a mess. I should REALLY start some laundry..."**

**Then I had the genius idea to write another chapter. Heh heh heh heh...**

**Well, enjoy, you lovely virtual people.**

**Oh yeah...REVIEW!**

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><p>"Hey!" Dylan yelled to the panicking Resistance members. "Let's calm down and think about this. How are we going to get to Borealis in time to save Kleiner and Mossman?"<p>

Some of the (smarter) people followed his instructions and calmed down thinking. The others continued running to the thinking ones, telling them to hurry.

Chell's eyes lit up when she thought of something.

"Chell, got anything?" Barney asked.

She nodded and pointed to one of the shot-down gunships they had defeated while she was gone.

Everyone followed her hand, and some got excited.

"Way to go, Chell!" one yelled.

"Yeah, smart idea!" another exclaimed.

Magnusson just shook his head. "All right, people, as much as I love to prove you wrong, I'm gonna prove you wrong without loving it. Our tools are not compatible to fix something that advanced, and we expect a Combine army at the Borealis, meaning we need a lot of troops. As big as that thing is, we don't even know if there's room for even one of us, if that thing is just some large Combine animal that can fly, and was armed with some sort of gun."

"But we've taken off the gun and used them before!" someone tried to reason with him.

"But has anyone ever gone inside it, or did you just rip it off and repair the _gun_?" Magnusson shot back.

Whoever tried to reason with him did not make himself known again.

"What we need is to find something that will get us _all _there, and _fast._" He explained again.

"What about portals? Did Aperture give us anything that can help us with this?"

"If we use a portal, the Combine would most likely know where our portal went before we did, and massacre us as we came through." a woman yelled.

"And no, as far as I've seen, there is nothing to help us from Aperture." an engineer stated. (Not a TF2 one!)

"However..." Mel said. "I think that we're right next to an ocean, and isn't the Borealis in the Antartica Ocean or whatever? And aren't all oceans connected or something? And what about all these wrecked boats lying around us? Oh, by the way, what are the boats doing in the middle of land, anyway?"

"You're a genius!" Dylan yelled. "We just need one of those boats, fix it up, and then we're there!"

Barney looked at Mel and explained that a lot of Earth's water was drained, to which Mel just nodded and walked away to Chell and Gordon.

"So, what are we waiting for?" she questioned. "Let's build a boa-"

A man came running up to the group, bleeding and out of breath. "We-" he panted some more. "We're...expecting company!" He said. "Troops coming in large numbers!" he coughed. "Rest of scouting team didn't make it..." he gasped for breath. "Coming fast."

A woman walked up to him and he placed an arm around his shoulder, and she lead him to the Medical Bay. "You heard him! Prepare for battle!" she yelled while supporting him. "We don't want to get massacred!"

"Get your weapons out! Chell, we've been working on the turret blueprints, we have a few ready! Set them up now!"

Chell nodded and ran to where he pointed, where she was greeted with a middle-aged man holding a turret that vaguely reminded her of the ones at aperture. It wasn't made of the same material, different colors, and it had no laser-eye.

She figured it was better than nothing, and set some more of them up in a circle around their new base.

"Chell!" the middle aged man called. "What was with the chip the blueprints told us to put in them?" he asked, a little worried that the AI programmed them to do the opposite of what everyone wanted.

She shrugged, figuring it must be the chip holding the eerie voices, and continued standing them up.

As soon as she set the last one down, she pushed the button on a little controller someone had created, and all the turrets came to life.

"Naptime, over."

"Mission starting."

"Kill _them._"

As they started moving their guns around, searching for targets, everyone who was outside of the circle quickly joined their team on the inside, and pulled out their own weapons, waiting for the Combine to arrive.

"Target Acquired." sang one turret, and started firing off into the distance, where the death call of a Combine was shortly heard after.

"Preparing to dispense product." another called, and fired, again everyone listened to the sound of dying Combine, but searched around, trying to find the bodies.

One of the turrets rocked a bit, and the turrets shot near the near-fallen turret and fired, where another static screech was heard.

"Pick me up!" the voice pleaded as it finally fell over. Chell was amazed that they didn't shut off when fallen, and that the man who leaned over it and picked it up didn't get shot at.

"Oh my god!" Alyx exclaimed. "They're invisible!"

DOG made an excited wailing sound, and ran out of the circle, fighting an invisible enemy he could somehow see. Atlas ran out to join him, only to be stopped by P-Body, who pointed to the concrete below them, and to the white wall above. Atlas set down his portal gun, picked up an AK-47, and P-Body shot a portal to the highest spot on the wall, in the area the Combine seemed to be coming from, and one where Atlas stood. Atlas shot out the wall and started firing at the invisible enemy. Chell didn't think that these robots could be so deadly, but here it was almost as if they were like _killing machines_. It must be hardwired to kill the _them_ GLaDOS talked about once, which she now knew to be the Combine.

Mel helped some of the troops that were handing out ammo to their comrades, as Alyx, Barney, Dylan, and Gordon all started firing. Chell ran back into the storage area where she found the turrets, trying to find a weapon she could use, seeing as her original shotgun had been confiscated from GLaDOS while she was testing.

* * *

><p>The sound of an old heart monitor. The soft sounds of people whispering around the corner. A pinching feeling in his hand. The warmth of many blankets. These were the things that first greeted the waking Kleiner.<p>

"Oh, thank God, you're alright!" a lady yelled as she rushed in. "Sorry about shooting you down, Duncun is still pretty new to this. Just got out of a Combine labor camp, doesn't know how to fire a weapon."

"I was shot down?" Kleiner questioned, using his hands to sit up.

"Don't do that! You'll mess up the IV."

Kleiner looked down, and noticed that there was, indeed, an IV in his hand.

"I haven't seen these in years! Where did you find this?" he asked.

The lady hesitated. "It's...probably for the best that you don't think about it." she responded.

Kleiner shuddered. "It's not sterile, is it?" he asked, pleading for the answer he wanted.

The lady simply smiled at him. "I'm Amy." she said. "You must be the famous Doctor Kleiner." she said, and Kleiner noticed an accent in her voice. Russian, it sounded like.

"Are you Russian? Or were, I should say."

"No, I'm Polish. My father was half-Russian, though..." she looked sadly ahead.

"I'm sorry. Where am I?" he asked.

"You're at Borealis Base. At least that's what _I _think we should call it, since it's only half a mile away from the Borealis."

"The Borealis?" he asked excitedly.

"Yep." Amy answered. "The one and only."

"Gordon Freeman and Alyx Vance were supposed to come here, but then Eli...well, something happened, and now no one wanted to come here. So I came instead, to retrieve Dr. Mossman as well as the technology from the Borealis."

"Dr. Vance...what happened?"

"Well, he's passed on."

"Oh. Well, Mossman's alright. She suffered multiple major wounds, though, and is in recovery. As for the Borealis, well, we don't know yet."

"I know!" Kleiner said excitedly. "Do you have a radio?"

"Yes."

"Perfect! I'll call for a team from New White Forest."

"_New _White Forest? What happened to the old one?" Amy asked.

Kleiner decided now would be a good time to explain everything that happened in the past month in order for her to be caught up.

* * *

><p>"DOG, are there any more out there, boy?" Alyx called.<p>

DOG whistled and shook his head. The turrets had shut down a while ago, wishing everyone goodnight, and the Aperture robots had found a crow and started chasing after it, shouting threats that only DOG could understand.

They weren't very nice.

"All right! Way to go, DOG! Can you help us pick a boat, now?"

DOG nodded, when all of a sudden, a medic burst out from the Medical Bay.

"Guys! It's Lillian!" she shouted.

A man followed her. "Turns out she wasn't sneaking extra food, she was _f**king pregnant!_" he shouted.

"She's in labor right now!" the woman called. "And we need some help!"

Some other medics rushed in after the two to help with Lillian, as well as several Vortigaunts, as screams could be heard from the closing door.

"Good Lord Al_mighty!_" Barney yelled. "She's in _labor? _There hasn't been a kid in over twenty years, man!"

"Then think of it like this, the first kid in twenty years? This is a very important moment in history!" a scientist yelled. He wrote down in a little notepad, similar to Chell's.

"What is that?" someone asked.

"In a couple of years, it'll be the first history book published about the Combine Invasion. Ever since the Seven Hour War, I've been writing down every detail of what happened, so that someday-"

"Wow, you really thought about _that?_ We've just been focusing on freeing our world!" Barney exclaimed.

"Guys, now's not the time!" Alyx yelled.

"Yeah, we need to get a boat, and help however we can to help Lillian safely deliver a healthy child!" Mel yelled.

"Like Dr. Martin said, this is an important moment in history! It's a shame that a child had to be born into _this _world, though, while it's still under alien control."

"Guys, calm down, and let's not think too much about this. Let's just help what's going on right now, and worry about it later. I want anyone with _any _medical experience in the Medical Bay _now!__" _Alyx ordered.

"Everyone else," Barney added, "Let's go find us a new Noah's Ark!"

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><p><strong>Bet you weren't expecting <em>this<em> to happen, now did you?**

**In another pitiful attempt to get reviews, I'll do this:**

**What should the child's name be?**

**TTFN, Ta-ta for now!**


	15. Hope Born

**I LOVE YOU BUDDHA12! I checked my email, and saw EIGHT emails, all either reviews or favorite stories or whatnot, and each one had a connection to you. A friend by the name of lazyboy27 (PS you're awesome, lazyboy27) and Mr. Super Plant (Who is also awesome)!**

**This chapter is dedicated to all you three, for making me dance around my room, even though I still haven't gotten around to doing laundry. Well, I did one load, but I think that's still in the dryer...I dunno, I'll check it out later.**

**New chapter!**

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><p>The man who was writing down in the soon-to-be-history-book looked up to Chell and Mel. "What were your names again? You deserve to be in this history book as well." He turned to Dylan. "You also."<p>

"I'm Dylan Hughman, and this is Chell. I don't know her last name." Dylan replied.

"I'm Mel, don't remember my last name, and I think Chell's last name is 'Redacted.'"

Dylan chuckled. "I think you mean her last name was redacted."

"Then, what is it now?" Mel asked.

Everyone laughed silently, and continued to search for a boat.

"That's good enough for me." the man said. "So, important names, Gordon Freeman, Alyx Vance, Eli Vance, Issac Kleiner, Arne Magnusson, a Father Grigori, Judith Mossman..." the man trailed off, eventually getting to the trio's names.

"What about me?" Barney asked.

"Barney Calhoun..." the man added.

"Guys, it's a girl!" someone yelled after them. "Lillian wants to name her 'Hope.'"

"Hope, all right," History guy said. "Hope Stevenson..." he wrote down. "First child born during Combine, major violation of The Rules."

Barney shook his head and continued looking through a decent-looking ship, looking for flaws. He came out five minutes later.

"Guys, we found one! And this one looks big enough to hold us all!"

Everyone cheered and raised their guns in the air, just as an antlion appeared from the ground. Dylan shot it, and everyone continued cheering.

"Now, can someone bring the crane over here?" Barney asked.

History man continued writing. "August 27, 2032: Hope born, boat found."

* * *

><p>"Kleiner?" Amy asked. "I thought, that now you're rested and somewhat healed, and that you were there when you shut off the Portal Storm or whatever, if you could look at this...thing we found. It appeared right as it ended."<p>

Kleiner slowly sat up from his bed and looked at her. "Of course."

They walked down the hallway, people greeting them by name as they walked down the steel corridor.

"It's in here."

Kleiner opened the door and peered at the sphere on the table. It looked as if it had been beaten up pretty badly, and almost resembled somewhat of an eye with handles.

"During the Portal Storm, things were teleporting once in a while from space. One time, we found a meteor in the restroom. He was found near the Borealis, screaming it's name, as if it knew what it was. Under further investigation, it shut down, talking about something that he had to do, and we noticed this." Amy turned it over, and Kleiner noticed the familiar Aperture Logo on the back of it, small, but there.

"I see."

"Like I said, it seems to have AI, somewhat, and we were wondering if you could try to repair it."

"Yes, I understand." he stated as he poked at it, wishing there was better lighting in the old room. He came across a panel, which opened to what looked like an optic of some sort, and poked that. He closed it, and turned it around, to notice something a little off.

It looked like one of the small, square panels that made up it's exterior was a little out of place. He pulled at it, revealing a set of wires, as well as some sort of switch. He flipped the switch, and the optic slammed open, looking frantically everywhere, looking between Kleiner and Amy. His optic, after several seconds of frantic moving, came still, and it somewhat looked as if it was frightened.

Kleiner turned back to the switch, which was obviously bumped, causing him to shut down before, and noticed one of the wires were loose. He pushed it back up to where it was supposed to go when~

"OOOOWWW! What's going on, first I'm talking, then I shut down, and now I can't even hear my voice! Wait, there it is, that's better, but ow, what did you do? It hurts like hell back there, sweetheart!" he yelled at Amy. "And who the bloody hell are you?" he turned his optic towards Kleiner.

"Uh, I'm Issac Kleiner, former Black Mesa sci~"

"Ohmygodohmygodohmygod! Lady, take me away from him! He's gonna kill me!"

"He's not going to kill you, Wheatley." Amy reassured him.

"You know his name?" Kleiner asked.

"He mentioned it when we were talking to him earlier."

"But, didn't you hear him? Black. Mesa. They're evil! They told me that if I ever talked to one of them, they would kill me!"

"Well, _they _lied." she said. "I'm Black Mesa too."

"No." he said. "You're joking! You are absolutely joking, Lady. Oh, speaking of Lady, has anyone seen a lady in an orange jumpsuit of sorts? Probably not, but just wondering..."

"Chell?" Kleiner asked.

"Yes! Yes, I think that's it! Chell Redacted, her name was! Have you seen her? Well, obviously you have, seeing as you know her name, but how? I'm glad you do know her, but how do you~no, just...just tell me where she is. Please."

"She's at New White Forest, and if there was a radio, maybe..."

"Right over there." Amy pointed. "Down the hall, third door on your left. Do you know the code for whoever you're trying to reach?"

"Yes, I do."

"Brilliant!" Wheatley exclaimed. "Take me to the radio!"

Kleiner looked to Amy, who nodded, saying she would go check on Judith, and left Kleiner and Wheatley to find the radio.

"It's this way! She said 'third door on your right', no, 'left,' sorry. Left, third door, IT'S THAT ONE! OPEN IT OPEN IT OPEN~"

"I'm opening it." Kleiner reassured the sphere.

"Chell! Chell, I'm so sorry! If you're wondering how I knew your name, it was in the files, I was looking it up when~wait, where is she? Well, I know she's not here, but why isn't someone responding through the radio?"

"Because I haven't turned it on yet." Kleiner replied, starting to get a little annoyed. Kleiner turned it on.

"Chell! I'm so sorry!"

"I haven't turned it to the right station yet!" Kleiner started to raise his voice.

"Oh, sorry about that, sorry about that, you go on and turn it to the station, then. Ol' armless me will just sit back and wait. Seriously, you can turn it to the station now, I'm not stopping you."

"New White Forest, come in, this is Kleiner." he stated into the radio.

"Kleiner? This is New White Forest, where are you?" a woman asked.

"At the Borealis station." he answered.

"Hold on." the lady made a sound that sounded like she put her hand over the microphone. "Tell Dylan he owes me his next dessert!" The lady uncovered the microphone, based on the sound. "We're just fixing up a boat, and soon to be heading your way. Oh, have I got news for you! You know Lillian?"

"The lady who kept snitching food?"

"She wasn't snitching food!"

"Then why was she...oh dear Lord."

"She just gave birth to a healthy baby girl! Hope Stevenson."

"Give her my congratulations. Ah yes, is Chell there?"

"Hold on, I'll get her with Dylan. They brought two robots, sentry turrets, and a whole bunch of good stuff while you were gone, even another test subject, Mel."

"Interesting." Kleiner stated. He turned around to see that Wheatley was mumbling to himself, almost as if he was rehearsing something.

"Chell and Dylan are here."

"Dylan? Who's Dylan?" Wheatley asked.

"Chell, someone wants to say something to you." Kleiner brought the microphone over to Wheatley.

"Chell! Chell, I'm okay! Oh, and I wanted to say that I'm sorry, and..."

The radio was silent for the next few moments.

"...Chell?" Wheatley asked.

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><p><strong>REVIEW PLEASE!<strong>

**Thank you, you're awesome!**


	16. Moron than Moreoff

**So sorry for the late update, guys. But I have an excuse...I mean explanation.**

**I _was_ sick for an entire week, and missed as much at school. I finally caught up with homework, and now it's Thanksgiving break!**

**So be thankful for this update! Heheheh.**

* * *

><p>"Who are you?" Dylan asked the person on the radio.<p>

"Who are _you?_" The voice countered.

"Listen, whoever you are, you're making Chell upset." Dylan said, looking over to Chell, who had her head down, and if Dylan didn't know any better, he'd think that she was crying on the inside.

"What? Just, put Chell on the line." Wheatley tried.

"She can't talk, moron." Dylan said.

"I AM NOT A MORON!" Wheatley screamed, and Chell flinched, remembering him saying that countless times before.

"Hey, are you Wheatley?" Dylan asked.

"Yes! Yes, did she tell you about me? That's great and~oh no, that's probably not great, is it. Well, I wanted to say sorry. So, sorry, Chell. I am so, so sorry, for being a monster to you, and trying to kill you, and, well, you know." Wheatley tried.

Chell started to walk away from the radio.

"Chell, you wanna leave?" Dylan asked, to which Chell nodded.

"What? Chell, don't leave! I...just, come back, please? I'm not going to kill you or anything. Haha..." he laughed nervously at his bad joke. "Got it, not funny."

Dylan looked at the radio. "Let's go, Chell."

"YOU GET YOUR HANDS OFF HER!" Wheatley yelled.

"My hands aren't on her." Dylan shot back. "Moron."

"I AM~!"

Dylan clicked the radio off.

* * *

><p>"NOT A MORON!" Wheatley screamed again. "Oh, sorry! Sorry, uh~"<p>

"They turned it off." Kleiner stated.

"What?" Wheatley said. "Turn it back on!"

"I can't do that." Kleiner said. "It turned off on their side."

Wheatley's optic lowered a little. "Oh, then I guess she's still mad at me."

Kleiner cleared his throat. "Uh, maybe it has to do with the fact that you tried to kill her?"

"Yeah, I know." Wheatley said, as his optic dimmed, and he shut down once again.

* * *

><p>"Are you okay, Chell?" Alyx asked as she saw Dylan and Chell walking out of the radio building.<p>

Chell nodded and put on a little smile, and Mel put her hands on her shoulders.

"That's not real." Mel said. "What's wrong?"

Chell gently lowered Mel's arms and looked to Dylan.

"Wheatley radioed."

"What?" Mel yelled, and Alyx looked stunned.

"From in space?" Alyx asked.

"No, he's at the Borealis...with Dr. Kleiner."

"I knew it!" some guy in the background yelled.

Dylan sighed. "Looks like I owe Hannah my dessert after all."

"Hey, where's Gordon?" Mel asked.

"He's off with Barney, who knows what." Alyx replied.

Alyx then looked back to Chell. "Back onto topic, are you sure you're all right?"

Chell nodded.

"Okay." Mel nodded as well.

"Hey!" Barney yelled while running towards the group. "Did you hear? The ship's ready for sailing!"

"Wait, you mean instead of goofing off with Gordon, you were working on the ship?" Alyx asked.

"What?" Barney asked with a grin. "I can be useful. Besides, the Vorts did most of the work."

Alyx shook her head. "Unbelievable."

They all started walking towards the ship, which was now bobbing peacefully in the water, which they found near their base, much to everyone's excitement.

"All right. Chell, Mel, since you probably don't know, _don't touch the water._" Dylan told the two.

Chell and Mel nodded, remembering the tests each had taken, where they had been told the same.

"There are Leeches, Itchyosaurs, and God knows what else now in there. Leeches will eat you instantly, like you won't even be there five more seconds after you touch it, you just...dissolve." Barney shuddered. "Like Greg."

Alyx placed a hand on Barney's shoulder, who shrugged it off.

"Anyway, shall we go on?" he held out his elbow to Mel, but Mel was already running towards the boat.

"Hey, careful with the water!" Barney yelled.

"Yeah, I know!"

The others carefully got aboard the unsteady ramp leading into the boat, with DOG, Atlas, and P-body last, to make sure nobody fell.

"Everybody got everything?" Barney yelled.

"Yeah!" a chorus sounded the room, and the boat started to move.

"Gordon!" Alyx exclaimed when she found her friend. "We're needed at the top, Combine patrol."

Gordon nodded and followed her, and Dylan soon followed. Dylan looked behind him to Chell.

"You coming?" he asked.

Chell nodded, and ran after him, with Mel and Barney coming right after.

* * *

><p>It had been two weeks, and 32 Combine attacks later, when the cold had started to devour the ship's inhabitants.<p>

"Damn, this _is _cold." Mel said. "Why didn't Magnusson say anything about coats?"

"Because we already had a storage full of them." Alyx replied, shrinking into her own warm coat, as everyone else followed suit.

"Why can't we start a fire?" Mel asked again.

"Combine." a group of people replied.

"The Combine don't let you start fires? I thought this was a rebellion!"

There were a few chuckles, but were soon replaced with the chatter of teeth.

"Well," Barney broke the almost silence, "At least it's nice that we don't have to deal with headcrabs, zombies, and Antlions, and whatnot."

"Yeah." a few responded.

Just then a loud bang was heard throughout the ship, and the ship lurched to the side, sending many falling to the ground, and one or two people into the ocean.

"Oh man! Poor guys." Dylan exclaimed.

"Hey, how's Hope doing?" Alyx asked Barney to help lift the spirits.

"She's doing fine. Everyone is making sure she has the best treatment out of all of us. And her mother, of course."

"That's good."

_Bang!_

"Oh my God!" a woman yelled.

* * *

><p><strong>Short chapter, no excuse. Heh, you were right, Obsessed with RVB 'MC.C, I am evil.<strong>

**Maybe with enough motivation, I'll write another update fast.**

**Heh, that's right. Another attempt at reviews.**

**Now I'm just being selfish, I mean, I already have like 40 (Which is more reviews I've ever had on anything COMBINED *pardon pun*on anything...), and that's awesome, I love it, but you know how the FF life is. It goes like this. Write stories, read stories, REVIEW!**

**Thanks to all my awesome readers! You know who you are...**


	17. Swimming in Troubles

**So, so sorry for the late update. My dad switched internet providers, and then all sorts of _fun _happened. Like me getting Garry's Mod for my fifteenth birthday! Last year, they made me a Portal cake, too. So, first chapter as a fifteen year old. Merry Christmas!**

Dylan ran and looked over the edge of the boat. "Dear God almighty..." he whispered. "...help us all."

Chell never heard him so reverent before in the short time she's known him. It must have been pretty bad.

**_BANG_**!

"What the hell is tha~ah. Yeah, that's a problem..." Barney looked over the edge as well.

Everyone's curiosity won over their conscience, and peeked over. Some quickly ran back.

It was a school of maybe ten or more Ichthyosaurs.

Gordon reached for his crossbow, and others reached for weapons nearby them as well.

_**BANG!**_

A few more other people were thrown over the side of the boat this time as well.

"Okay guys," Alyx started. "We're gonna need more guys."

A few more people grabbed their weapon of choice, and joined Gordon in shooting off the extra-terrestrial sea monsters. But none ever even seemed to feel the ammunition being fired at their thick skins.

"Damn it!" Dylan yelled. "The leeches are _eating_ all the bullets and bolts that hit the water!"

Everyone watched as Gordon shot at a nearby Ichthyosaur, and gasped when the bolt seemed to dissipate into the water, Ichthyosaur unharmed.

Gordon quickly pulled out an RPG and fired it instantly at the one that just jumped out of the water. It hit right on the target, and the Ichthyosaur fell dead back in the water. As one swam by its fallen companion, Gordon shot another rocket at it, but it exploded when it hit the water, water splashing up onto the boat. Not many leeches came with the water, thankfully, but some people got plenty of bites, causing them to drop their weapons into the water in pain.

Alyx yelled out to the ones firing, "Hold your fire until they're close to the surface!" **_BANG!_**

"Shit." Barney said. "Hey Doc!" he yelled to Magnusson, who was crouching in fear behind an explosives crate. "You realize those are explosives, right?"

Magnusson jumped back, nearly tripping over the edge of the boat, and crawled away from the crate, before straightening his posture and his tie, realizing how ridiculous he looked.

"Tell the captain or whatever to floor it!"

"Yes...Barney. Of course!" He yelled back, fleeing the battlefield.

"Wuss." Mel said as she fired again into the water.

DOG had grabbed some more ammo for everyone, and gave them to Charles, the man passing out ammo to everybody when needed. The medic tended to the victims of the leeches, and dressed their bites. People were running back and forth, trying to get a better angle at the enemy. With each gunshot, water splashed up a bit, and the Ichthyosaurs seemed to notice that splashing them caused them pain. The boat was rocking, water was splashing up, hurting people, and people were falling overboard occasionally, and Atlas and P-Body were fighting over an old Pulse Rifle.

Chell was afraid.

* * *

><p>"Kleiner." Amy said, strutting up to the doctor tending to some of Wheatley's damages. "We got a report via radio. It seems your friends ran into some trouble, a school of Ichthyosaurs...?"<p>

"Are you serious?" Kleiner asked. "Don't you remember what happened to them? They were hunted for sport by the Combine."

"That's what I said." Amy replied. "But they insist. It sounds pretty bad."

"Oh dear."

"Do you wanna talk to them?"

"Is Chell with his friends?" Wheatley shouted, suddenly ignorant of the state the portal storm had put him in. "Oh, please tell me she's not your friend. I mean...uh, that, crap. Is she in trouble too? Is what I mean, I guess. Is she?"

"It's probably not a problem...probably. Don't worry, Wheatley. Gordon, Alyx, Barney, and several others are with her. She's probably fine."

"If she's not, I'll kill...well, I don't know what exactly! But I will!"

Doctor Kleiner shook his head at him. "Wheatley, I'm going to go talk with the Captain. Amy?"

"Of course, Dr." she said, and picked up the tool he was holding and started prodding Wheatley.

"OW! Hey, lady! There's a proper way to use those things, and I don't now what it is, but I know this isn't it!"

Amy sighed, and continued repairing the moranic core.

"OW!"

* * *

><p>Chell ducked to avoid the splashes, reloading as she did so. If only they were on land right now, a portal surface of some sort. She was great with thinking with portals, not bullets.<p>

Gordon fired his last rocket at an Ichthyosaur, who moaned as it finally expired, and reached for a pulse rifle. But his hand stopped in midair.

He looked around and saw an Ichthyosaur in mid-leap, water frozen around his statued form. Everything turned a blueish-greenish hue, and a man in a suit walked out of nowhere towards him. He gently tugged the woman about to be hit by the Ichthyosaur as he passed them, and stopped face to face in front of Gordon.

"Well, Mister Freeman. I see you have found...quite a bit of friends in such a short time span. I can't help but notice you accomplish many things in short moments..."

The scene suddenly switched to a room inside of the boat, where boxes were held in storage. "However..." G-man continued, "it appears as if...you may need some assistance~and I don't blame you! Such a big struggle you have found yourself in, Gordon." One of the boxes floated towards him. "This...is the work of an engineer, who was in charge of making the Aperture equipment your new friend...Chell...brought with her." The scene changed to an almost all white room, with a red button in the center of it, and a companion cube in the corner. _The testing track_.

"Such a remarkable woman she is...Chell. I can't even begin to imagine what...testing...must have felt like to someone trapped in this world of...science..." The G-man gripped his tie and straightened it out a bit violently.

They moved quickly through the walls and stopped in what Gordon recognized as GLaDOS' chamber. "I've been...watching...Chell for a while now, Dr. Freeman, and I must say, she is a valuable ally to your cause. I wouldn't want to make her an enemy, now." he stated, with a small smile.

"Might I recommend using some of the things Chell brought with her...?" G-man asked slowly and hesitantly, the stress on the words he used switching to the wrong parts of the question.

GLaDOS started to stir. "Oh, I thought I felt a quantum displacement in my chamber..." she accused, glaring at the two trespassers. "I thought I told you to leave." GLaDOS nearly yelled.

"Now, my old friend, why would you say something like that?" The G-man said, smirking.

* * *

><p><strong>To all you awesome people out there, stay awesome! Thank you, Hajarth, for wishing me a happy birthday. I did have a great one!<strong>

**And thank you, delax, for reviewing. I'll try to bring some cores back for ya. **

**And thank you, Buddha12, for recommending my story to friends. You're awesome. Your character is coming soon!**

**And thanks, 3theCaptain, for that epic review! I hope this one's better! **

**Once again, feel free to tell me anything I need to work on.**

**Quote of the day:**

**This is a box of crazy with a side order of fries...**


	18. Fixed Solution

**My dad got me Garry's Mod for my B-day. It was on sale on Steam for $2.50! That explains the late updates. Sorry.**

* * *

><p>Old friend? Why would the G-man say something like that to GLaDOS?<p>

"Ha ha. Funny." GLaDOS said, her 'voice' dripping with sarcasm. "'Friend.'"

G-man adjusted his tie and smiled. "Well, Gordon. I suppose it's time for us to leave. It appears as though we have...overstayed...our welcome."

"You were never welcome here. Leave." GLaDOS replied.

"We _will_ see each other again, my dear..." G-man stated as everything started to blur and Gordon found himself back on the boat, the Resistance still fighting the Ichthyosaurs, numbers dropping rapidly from both sides. Gordon was relieved that his friends were not injured as of yet.

"Gordon!" Alyx yelled. "Help us please!"

Mel looked back at Gordon and smirked. "Went AWOL for a while, huh?"

Barney ran over to him, rifle in his hand. "Where were you man? You've been gone for like, ten minutes now!"

"Just because you're The Free Man doesn't mean your free to drift off when we need you, no it doesn't!" Dylan yelled, picking up his old angry habit of repeating himself.

Another loud bang echoed across deck, and several more members of the Resistance fell off the side of the boat, few rescued by friendly hands reaching for them. Medics were running dangerously low on supplies, and some of the leech bite victims discovered that some leeches were still on them, slowly eating away at them. There were already corpses across the boat that have been eaten almost clean. Gordon did everything in his power to jerk his head away from the horrendous sight and continue fighting.

Chell ran out of ammo. She reached into the box of supplies that was placed next to her, and felt nothing but empty containers. She felt like crying. If they ever got out of this alive, she didn't know what she would do, but she would do something to thank whoever for getting her out of this. Mel was right beside her, and even though her eyes were set on the approaching monsters, Chell could see a tear in her eye threatening to fall down. But she knew Mel would suck it up to maintain her image, and Chell knew that Mel wanted to impress the Barney guy over there.

Barney had started handing out ammo to people as well. He stared at the almost empty supplies room, and shuddered. What would they use against the Combine as soon as they made it to the Borealis?

"We're screwed." Barney muttered under his breath and hauled one of the few remaining crates to the deck. He handed them out to people crying out in need of them, and then got some for himself. He started firing into the monsters' bodies when the decided to jump out of the water, smiling when he heard the dying moan of one of his targets. All that training he received when he was training to be a security guard at Black Mesa sure became useful, even though he never really used his skills until after the Resonance Cascade.

He remembered on that fateful day, it started out innocently enough.

"I shouldn't have eaten all of those donuts..." Barney mumbled, thinking that maybe Karma had something to do with this.

Karma was cruel.

Dr. Magnusson was talking on the radio with Kleiner, yelling at him for leaving, and that if it weren't for him, they wouldn't even be in this situation right now. Dylan barged in on him, seeing as Barney sent him to tell the news about their short ammo supply, and received the full blow of Magnusson's anger thrown at him for interrupting.

Then, everything fell frighteningly silent.

* * *

><p>Wheatley felt himself being repaired.<p>

And it hurt.

"Lady! Lady, please! You're doing it wrong!"

"No I'm not." Amy said for the thousandth time in five minutes.

"Lady! I'm going to murder you! Wait, no I'm not, no I'm not. I'm just getting REALLY ANGRY right now!"

Amy sighed and reached for the secret switch she had found underneath one of the small panels and shut him off, working in peace for what seemed like the first time in decades...even though it was only a few minutes.

"If this is what you're like malfunctioning, I can't _wait_ to see what you're like fully operational..." she mumbled, when someone came in with a cheery cry of "Delivery!" and placed a similar sphere next to Wheatley.

This one had a yellow optic, but otherwise it was exactly the same.

"These things just keep popping out of nowhere. Stupid Portal Storm." the man muttered as he walked out.

Amy sighed, and pressed the 'On' button to see if it worked.

"Space. Where's Space? Did Space leave me? Space! I'm not in Space!"

Amy pushed the "Off" button and almost broke down and cried.

* * *

><p>Gordon was in the storage room, remembering G-man's words about the Aperture equipment, when the silence happened.<p>

"You are all under arrest!" a loud voice shouted from above, soon followed by an almost metallic chuckle. "Haven't said that in years..." the voice said quietly, but Gordon still heard it.

He grabbed a crate of the equipment and ran up to see what the _hell_ was going on. He stopped at the stairwell, and thought it might be smart to open the crate and grab the devices first, just in case. DOG and the other two robots, which had followed his lead, also set down their crates, and proceeded to open them.

Gordon smirked at what he saw.

Three more types of robots, that looked quite advanced, and deadly.

One looked similar to a spider, and it's 'head' looked similar to the sphere head on Atlas, but with a red optic, and had some sort of turret gun near the top of the sphere.

One looked almost like a mixture of DOG and P-Body, with detailed arms and legs, and a gun for one of the hands, and on it's blob-shaped 'body', a red optic as well as a smaller one were in the upper corner of one side.

One looked surprisingly human, with a human shaped body, head, and limbs, but with the 'skeleton' still showing, wires and chips and lights everywhere. There was writing on it's shoulders, as well as the Aperture logo. This one, instead of the white color the others had, was grey and black.

He gave a little smile, and with the help of DOG and the already running Aperture robots, turned on the new ones, who stood up straight and looked at Gordon, as though expecting orders. Gordon motioned for them to stay put, and walked slowly up the steps, and saw the sight before him.

Combine submarines, one might call them, littered the ocean, and a soldier in Combine uniform was yelling orders towards them from an advanced looking megaphone.

"Weapons, down. Bodies, in the corner. Place yourselves on the ground, face down, hands on your head. I SAID STOP THE SHIP ALREADY, GODDAMNIT!"

The Ichthyosaurs had somehow stilled, and made no more attempt to attack Rebels or Combine.

"We're here to repay your for killing off our pets!" the soldier yelled.

* * *

><p><strong>Here's the next chapter, Mar!<strong>

**Yes, I am fifteen Helium15. And thank you.**

**Well, I brought Space Core back, delax. Hope you enjoy!**

**Yes, Buddha12, your character has arrived! Hallelujah!**

**PS I'm alive after all! I was a little worried myself...**

**How did I do this chapter, 3theCaptain?**

**Hey aperture fan, these were all the designs my computer would let me click on. Sorry for the ones I couldn't access. Hope you liked them anyway!**

**And to every single one of Buddha12's buddies, thanks a crapton! I can't believe i already have 60 f***in' reviews! I never got that much before! That many reviews were for the 'good writers'.**

**Sniff, it's nice to know I finally joined the 'good writer' club. Sniff.**

**I love you all! You're all my inspiration! I'll try to get another chapter as soon as I can. Not today, sadly. My wrists hurt, I also just updated my How To Train Your Dragon fanfic. Ouch.**

**PS speaking of HTTYD, read How Lenora Trains Her Dragon by Brightfire15. It's AMAZING, and she only has 5 reviews (6 now, betuz of me.)**

**It's entertaining, it's amazing, and she needs the love she deserves!**

**Also, in the Portal archives, read Future Generations. AWESOMENESS!**

**Off to get some ice. See ya!**


	19. Radio Chatter

**Yeah, Garry's Mod sure is addicting all right. I LOVE that game!**

**Continuing the story!**

* * *

><p>Gordon leaned against the wall by the stairwell and got to work figuring out how to turn on the machines. He got the little spherical one to turn on first, and it started to look around wildly, trying to get its surroundings in order.<p>

"Any attempt to reach for any weapons will result in the immediate destruction of the entire ship. Any forms of affection towards one another will not be tolerated." the man's voice continued. "That will win you a one-way ticket overboard, kids."

Gordon placed the little robot on the ground and started turning on the others, which were all pretty easy except for the one who looked almost like a human. He soon figured out that if you touched shoulders at the same time for two seconds, it started humming to life.

"Any...what the hell is that noise?" the voice asked.

_"Sector sweep in process. Detecting Anticitizen One and Vance Subprime missing from current location. Code Cauterize and Expunge."_ The monotone voice of the Overwatch voice supplied.

Alyx wasn't on deck either? Where was she?

"Okay Freeman, fun's over. Come on out." the man ordered. "Or all of your little friends will be swimming with the leeches."

"Uh, boss?" a slightly higher pitched CP voice responded. "They wouldn't be swimming with the leeches, there would be nothing left of the bodies five seconds after they hit~"

"Officer X248H, that's not the point." the original man, the 'boss' stated.

"Also," another officer chimed in, "What about Vance Subprime? Shouldn't you call her out too?"

"She's not a priority as of now, FREEMAN GET OUT HERE NOW!" the leader demanded.

The robots all sitting by Gordon looked at him expectantly, awaiting their orders. Gordon pointed his arm to the stairwell, and mouthed the word 'go.'

The robots saw his mouth move, and immediately took action, their different whirs and hums growing louder as they ran up the stairs.

"Shit, we've got hostiles!" the leader shouted and gunfire was heard throughout the deck. Gordon ran up the stairs with the Gravity Gun in hand, and launched one of the spherical robots towards an officer sneaking up behind Barney.

Barney turned around at the noise. "Make that two beers!" Barney yelled at Gordon as he continued firing at the Combine.

The human-like robot had picked up some weapon of one of the fallen rebels and started using it instantly, somehow never running out of bullets. Gordon noticed that while the robot was firing, it held the gun close to his chest, and his chest opened once in a while and deposited bullets into the weapon.

The blob-robot was firing energy balls at everything wearing the full CP uniform, eyes glowing yellow for the instant when the balls were fired.

The spherical-robots were firing in a way similar to the turrets, coming out of the gun near the top, but when an officer came to close, it folded its legs into itself and blew up, killing the soldier, and then somehow the pieces were magnetically pulled back together, and the robots would continue their mission

The Ichthyosaurs were moving again, but Atlas and P-Body had returned from God knows where, and started firing their own weapons into the water when the monsters were close. Soon there was only one left, that did something Gordon had never seen them do before.

It retreated.

"Outbreak outbreak outbreak!" the last soldier shouted into his radio, as he saw his numbers became very limited, hanging in the single digits.

"Fire the~" he started as he tried to jump back onto his submarine, when Alyx caught him, holding a grenade in her hand.

"I would recommend not moving." she mocked him.

"I would spit at you if I wasn't wearing this mask." the leader taunted.

"Tell your troops to stop firing." Alyx demanded.

The leader stared at her in what everyone would imagine was shame. "Cease fire." he ordered, and the remaining officers hesitantly obeyed.

"What were you going to fire?" Barney said, slowly walking towards the leader.

"We didn't come with many men, because we had a nuclear torpedo." the man answered.

"Is that so?" Alyx said, holding the grenade close to his face.

"_Attention, Civil Protection team, no response has been sent. Please report status."_

Dylan waved a gun in the man's face. "You heard the lady. Report status. Only do us a favor and lie." he stated bluntly.

The leader sighed and reached for his helmet. "Civil Protection to Dispatch, the battle's over. Victory goes to Civil Protection, over."

"_Anticitizen One and Vance Subprime are also fallen, correct?"_

"Correct, over."

"_Please report back to base as soon as possible."_

"On it, over." the leader placed his hand down. "Now what?"

Everyone seemed to think of this, and soon Alyx's grenade was replaced with Mel's shotgun.

"Why don't we use that radio of his for information?" she asked.

Chell nodded her head in agreement.

"I'm up for it." Barney said.

"Let's do it!" Dylan yelled.

Soon everyone was nodding and cheering their agreement while gathering up the surviving soldiers and tying them together.

The leader groaned in response. "Just kill me." he stated.

Mel smirked at him, now that she had everyone agreeing with her.

"Does that lady broadcast to _all_ you guys?" she asked.

The leader remained silent.

"Well?"

"I've already broken some unit orders already, don't expect me to do more!" the leader snapped.

"Well, then. I'll take that as a yes." Dylan said triumphantly.

* * *

><p>GLaDOS was stressed. Caroline would shut up.<p>

_Can you _believe_ that man? Just waltzes right in here in that suit of his like we're the best of friends!_

GLaDOS imitated a sigh. :You know, you're not the only one who hates him.: she said.

_But I hate him for a reason. He _killed _me!_

:He put _your_ annoying virus of a brain into _my_ body!: GLaDOS snapped back. :My crisis is way worse than yours.:

Caroline sighed. _Well, fine. We both hate him. But what was Gordon doing with him?_


	20. Victory Space?

**Sniff, why must Garry taunt me with his not-working game? **

**Hey, has anyone ever played on a map, only to have it freeze up, and then the whole damn computer shuts down? Dad said the computer was overheating, so I didn't touch it for two days, played it again, and BOOM! Turned off. **

**I'm sad now...I just found out Toothless from How To Train Your Dragon is a ragdoll on there! NOOO!**

**Well, the story must go on...sniff. Review to take my crappy day away, please?**

* * *

><p>Alyx slumped down against the railing of the boat. "Did I really do what I think I did...?" she mumbled.<p>

Mel sat down next to her. "If you mean threatening to blow yourself up with that Combine dude to save us all, you sure as hell did." Mel confirmed.

Alyx placed her head in her hands. "It's just...my father...I miss him so much!" she started crying softly.

"The dead guy?" Dylan asked. "No wait! Sorry! Didn't mean it like that..."

"Yeah, you'd have to be more specific." Mel stated. "There's a lot of dead guys now."

Gordon shook his head and sat on the other side of Alyx. He didn't say anything, just sat there, but that was enough to calm Alyx down a little bit.

Chell watched from the distance. She was currently separating Atlas and P-body, who both tried to kill the Combine leader at the same time, pissing each other off, and they had started wrestling each other.

"I lost." the Combine general repeated over and over. "I lost..."

Chell rolled her eyes and pulled Atlas back, who had previously escaped her grip and tried to jump on P-Body. Weren't they supposed to be best friends? What was wrong with them? (**AN: Did anyone else notice that that sentence has four words starting with W in a row? Just me? Okay**.)

* * *

><p>"Space...space...where's space?" the core appeared to be hyperventilating. "SPAAAACCCCEEE!" it screeched. "I miss you space! Come back! NOOO!"<p>

Amy covered her eyes and started to cry. What was with these cores?

"Fact: Most salt water taffies are created with the tears humans create due to long shifts of factory work."

"Would you shut up? You're makin' the lady cry. Sorry, ma'am. Maybe I could take you away from these freaks for a while, just some you and me time, if ya know what I'm sayin'."

"Are you going to space?" the yellow core perked up. "Take me with you!"

"No! Enough with the space!" Wheatley yelled. "I just got _back_ from space, mate! There's no way in Hell am I going back there!"

"Fact: The space core is currently pissing off the Intelligence Dampening Sphere."

"I AM NOT A MORON!"

"Fact: I never made such an accusation."

"You kinda did." The green core stated.

"SPAAAAACCCCCCEEEEE!"

Amy ran out of the room. "KLEINER!" she screamed as she ran.

"Fact: Humans' brains do not have enough memory space to process all these facts."

"Did you say space?" the yellow core practically exploded with simulated happiness.

"Shut up!" Both Wheatley and Rick yelled simultaneously.

* * *

><p>Barney paced back and forth. They had just won a battle...but lost near everything else. The number of men on board had drastically dropped, as with the ammo. They barely had enough to supply Gordon!<p>

"Aw, shit." Barney muttered. He walked towards Magnusson's room, hoping he was in a better mood.

He wasn't. He was currently screaming at Kleiner through the radio.

"I'll have you know that over thirty good men have been killed during this battle! And this wouldn't have happened if you hadn't ran off to the Borealis! These men's blood are on your hands, you know! And guess what? The inventions Gordon and the Aperture subjects that you didn't want to wait for actually saved the rest of us! If you hadn't been so stupid as to...!"

Barney sighed and walked away, when he heard a female voice on Kleiner's side of the radio screaming his name.

"Kleiner, you've got to help me!"

"Amy! Are you all right?" Kleiner asked.

Barney shook his head and continued up, to tell the others of the news he had discovered.

* * *

><p>"Wait, you're telling me we're almost out of ammo? Almost out?" Dylan nearly fainted.<p>

"Yeah, sucks right?" Barney said.

Mel shook her head. "Nope." she said. "The Aperture robots, they have almost unlimited ammo. We'll just activate a bunch more, hide in the corners and let them loose on the enemy. Not only would it save us some useful ammo, but it could also save some of our men's lives." she stated.

"Wow." Alyx replied. "That was very detailed."

Mel smiled and turned to Chell, who was still pulling Atlas away from P-Body, DOG helping in pulling away P-Body from Atlas.

"Hey Chell...ah, never mind." Mel turned back when she saw Chell's predicament.

"Well, we may as well get some rest." Dylan pondered. "I'm sure all of us are exhausted."

Alyx yawned, proving Dylan's point. "Yeah. I think we'll reach the Borealis by tomorrow, now that I think about it."

Gordon nodded.

"Well, off to your quarters." Mel said. "'And remember...girls in the girls' quarters, boys in the boys' quarters.'" she quoted.

Everyone just walked off to their assigned rooms, leaving a surprised Mel on the deck.

"Aw." she muttered as she shuffled off after them. "Chell, you coming?"

Chell nodded, still trying to get Atlas to calm down. Mel sighed and walked over to her friend, and smacked the robot against its 'head.' Atlas than turned around, almost saying 'Why?' with it's optic.

DOG had wrestled P-body to the ground, and P-body calmed down after staying in that position for a minute.

"What's up with them?" Mel asked.

They heard a familiar metallic chuckle from behind them. They turned around to see the Combine general laughing softly to himself.

"What's so funny?" Mel asked.

"You're screwed." was all the Combine said.

* * *

><p><strong>Aha. Ahahahahaha. Funny. I look down to my typing hands to discover I have a giant green smiley face on my right...no left hand, smiling at me with those small eyes of his. I bet one of my sisters has something to do with this...Hell can wait, my siblings. You've got something more important to worry about...jk.<strong>

**I'm off to the sink!**


	21. Saved

**Aha. Funny. 'I've been gone for a month'. Funniest thing I've ever heard. There's no WAY that's true! One more day and THEN it would have been a month. I'm updating before that can happen, my friends.**

**Disclaimer (because I _have_ to have one, apparently): Garry's Mod still isn't working...and I still don't own these two awesome games. I don't own Valve, either, though one day I plan on being a voice actor for them. I'll tell y'all when it happens, so you can look for me in the credits. Plus I have this AWESOME story idea for them, and they'll _have _to hire me! Not putting the story online, for copyright reasons in the future, but I'll give you a 'summary', I guess. "If you mess up time once, you've messed it up multiple times before, forever." Pretty sweet, eh?**

**On with the story!**

* * *

><p>The metallic chuckle grew rapidly, into an almost maniacal laughter.<p>

Barney flew up the stairs to the deck when he heard this. "Man, what the hell has gotten into this guy? I've never seen anything like this before!"

Chell picked up a shovel she found on board and slowly walked to the general, silently demanding him to tell what was happening, which Mel voiced out loud to him.

After a while, the laughter died down. "You guys...you run out of ammo!" he managed to choke out. "We're gonna win!"

"Well, that's true, but we have the-" Mel started.

"The _robots_!" the laughter started up again. "The robots are the reason you're screwed!"

Barney held up his shotgun to the general's face. "Talk, dammit!"

The laughter died down. "Is that any way to treat your general, soldier?"

Barney slowly placed down his weapon. "Garry?"

"Hello, Barney."

* * *

><p><em>GLaDOS!<em>

:What is it, Caroline?:

_Check the feed we've been getting from our robots!_

GLaDOS imitated a sigh, getting really annoyed easily now that testing was halted. She pulled up the screen, and if she could, she would have gasped.

:It's _them_. They're tampering with our robots! But how?:

Silence was the only answer as they stared at the screen in sight. The robots were receiving orders to kill off the rebels from some unknown source.

_We have to override it somehow!_

GLaDOS froze up. :I know how they're doing it! They were built by the rebels, right?:

_Yes._

:The rebels resources, if I'm correct, which I am, were taken from _them_, and they built the robots with old..._Combine_ resources! The Combine must have figured out what parts of what they used, and are using it against the rebels! The only way to prevent this is if they installed that chip I gave out with each of the blueprints...but the humans were probably to stupid to even _consider-_:

_They did. They installed it._

GLaDOS checked the previous feeds that were given to them. :Oh.:

Caroline inwardly smirked. She loved it when she proved GLaDOS wrong about something.

:Well then. Time for some direct intervention.:

_**::/Download initiated\::...**__**/=Downloading_/**_

* * *

><p>The man scowled. She wasn't supposed to download herself into the robots! Everything would be ruined if this went through. His employers wouldn't be pleased at all.<p>

"Freeman..." he muttered. His plan had to work. Or else his employers...

Someone tapped on his shoulder. "It would appear as though things are getting out of hand."

G-man looked up to the man. "Yes, it has."

"I think we've given you too much power."

"I would dare to disagree. You said Alyx Vance wasn't-"

"A mistake on our part, I'll confess. She is quite valuable, and we're thankful for you now to have saved her, but this is going too far. We don't think we'll be needing your services any longer."

G-man scowled. "Just have patience. I know how we can fix this...unfortunate mistake..."

* * *

><p><em>Intruder. Firewall destroyed. AI systems, destroyed. Shutting down...<em>

:Something's wrong.: GLaDOS thought. Next thing she knew, she saw nothing.

* * *

><p>Barney dropped his gun. "Garry...I thought you were..."<p>

The chuckle resumed. "You thought _you_ were a spy? I was spying on _you_. You're lucky everyone liked you, though. They didn't believe me."

Barney shook his head. "I thought we were buddies, man."

"Then why would I have signed up for the Combine? You wouldn't befriend a Combine!"

Barney stumbled on his words.

"Don't be too sad, Barney. I'll admit, I had some pretty fun times with you."

Barney smirked. "Like the time...when we found that chest?"

A less maniacal laugh emerged from the general's throat. "You thought it was some old treasure!"

Barney joined in on the laughing, while the other rebels glanced on confusedly.

"We opened it...remember what we found?" Barney added.

The general's laughter increased in volume. "Oh, man, that scared the hell out of you!"

"Well, at least I didn't scream like a girl!"

"What was it?" Mel interrupted.

"It was a giant jack-in-the-box some bored rebel made!" Barney yelled. "A large spring with a dead headcrab pierced on the top of it!"

"Remember when we showed it to the guys?"

Barney's laughter started up again. "I wish we could have seen their faces..."

The laughter died down when they glanced at each other again. "You know, I always wished that I could change your opinion about the Combine." 'Garry' stated sadly.

"I wished the same about you, old friend." Barney replied.

The general sighed and reached for something located on his other arm. "Sorry, Barney."

He pushed a button.

* * *

><p>"Don't worry, Amy. I'll take care of them from now on." Kleiner assured the sobbing woman, eager to help his friend and get away from Magnusson's angry voice.<p>

"Thanks." Amy whispered as she stumbled down to her quarters.

Kleiner sighed, confused as to why she had broken down. Curious, he turned all the cores on at once, them continuing an argument they had started before they were shut down.

"Well, I think they were like this before." Kleiner mused. "Are you guys...malfunctioning?" he asked the arguing cores.

"Fact: Every single one of us is 100% operational."

"Says mister false-facts!" Wheatley argued.

"Moron, you just called yourself non-operational, and if you're yelling like that, you're obviously not!" Rick shouted at him.

"Let's all go to the Space Spa!" The space core yelled.

"Not a moron, you are!" Wheatley shouted at Rick.

"Sorry, that's not what I was designed for!" Rick taunted.

"Oh, you're so lucky I don't have legs, mate!"

Kleiner sighed and walked out of the room.

* * *

><p><strong>There, done. Sorry for the super long update. I forgot that when you update, you have to <em>write<em>. And that to write, you have to have _ideas_. So I was doing a massive brainstorming thing to decide what to do next, and in the process, came up with a new story idea for HTTYD, and I just _had_ to write down, and it got instant success. So I continued it, then noticed this story, and my head blew up. I also got surgery on my foot for about the MILLIONTH time! Stupid chronic ingrowns...**

**My toe looks pretty gross right now, guys.**

**Oh, and I had an infected cut on my finger, and in my agriculture class, I stuck it under the microscope, and OH MY GOD. I bought about three giant things of hand sanitizer right after school that day, which stung like a bitch. My advice to you, don't look at wounds under a microscope.**


	22. Enemy of my Enemy is my Enemy

**Yo! Listening to Evanescence, and on my walk home from school today, BAM! Ideas for this story galore! It finally has a plot instead of random stuff I write down and link together!**

**I amreally confused about what to do with the Borealis bit, but...WAIT! False alarm, just got an idea for that too. I'm on a roll! YAY!**

**PS PLAY LEFT 4 DEAD!**

* * *

><p><em>Overwatch to General of Civil Protection Team Delta. What is your emergency, please respond.<em>

"General to Overwatch, I am_"

"Shut up!" Mel semi-whispered.

"Currently captured by the enemy." 'Garry' finished.

Barney just stared in shock at what was happening. This was his friend, wasn't it? What should he do...?

_Negative. The enemy has been expunged. Defective Civil Protection General, prepare for permanent off-world reassignment._

"No, wait-!" Garry started, when all of a sudden, his coughing-like sounds replaced his words. He looked up at his friend, who had finally gotten the nerve to point his shotgun at his former friend.

"Barney. Borealis...contains portals unknown...in this dimension..." This was followed by a giant fit of coughing. "Used by..." It was at this point he expired.

Barney lowered his weapon as he stared at his fallen friend/enemy. "Well, now I won't have to worry so much about what to do with him..." he muttered, then sighed. He then turned to the other soldiers tied up. "Anyone care to finish what Garry was trying to say?"

Everyone remained silent, except for one soldier, who was noticeably squirming in his confinement. "Uh..."

The other Metrocops shot glares at the nervous CP, who quickly stopped his unintelligible murmuring. Just as the others relaxed, he started up again.

"We may be enemies, but we have a common enemy as well." he bravely stated in his gravelly-mechanic voice. The other soldiers started yelling at him, and trying their best to severely harm or kill their traitorous comrade.

Chell quickly jumped up from the crate she had seated herself on, and reached for a gun nearby, and aimed it at the hostile soldiers heads, finishing off all of them except the one who had spoken to them. No sooner had she done so, when the gun she held was shot out of her hand.

Everyone turned around to see their own robot army facing them with their weapons pointed for the humans' demise.

_Clamp._

The robots immediately fell to the ground, electric sparks flying every which way about them, staining their already dirty colors to black.

_Cauterize._

Blue streaks turned into a yellow flame, which started to consume the robots when-

_Expunge._

A bright flash. The covering of eyes. The lack of shrapnel piercing flesh...

The familiar voice.

_Hello. How have you been?_

* * *

><p>He smiled. His plan had gone smoothly.<p>

"Well, I stand corrected." his employer stated. "Perhaps a promotion is in order?"

G-man smiled even wider. "That...would be much appreciated."

* * *

><p>"Doctor Kleiner! They've arrived!" some guy cried out to the hustling doctor.<p>

"Oh dear. Magnusson's still...yelling at me through the radio!" he muttered. "This is not going to end well..."

"Hey, Dr. K.!" Barney yelled as he stepped off of the boat. "Don't worry about Magnusson, DOG is restraining him."

"Oh, thank heavens." Kleiner sighed in heavy relieve. "And the baby, Hope?"

"In the care of the Vorts." Barney said. "Mother's with her. Almost everyone else is dead. Gordon and Alyx are still in their cabins, we figured we'd better let them sleep for a while. Mel's dying to see the personality cores..." he stopped as he remembered who was directly behind him, nearly bouncing in anticipation.

"Uh, that way, Miss. Pleasure to meet you." Dr. Kleiner introduced himself, only to notice her retreating form running in the direction he had pointed out. He turned back to Barney. "What about Chell and Dylan."

"Together. Chell won't come out of her cabin. Dylan's actually right outside of the door, begging her to come out. Something about Wheaties. I can't remember the last time I had those. Oh, and something about a _her_ as well. Don't ask me. I'm here with the CP...who should have been standing right next to me..." Barney confusedly looked to his left, noticing no one was there.

"Sorry, moved over here." the CP supplied.

"Jesus!" Barney jumped in the air.

"Yes, I'll admit I was curious as to what that was doing there." Kleiner mused. "As a matter of fact...I still am. Could you...?"

"Oh, he's on our side. Not a spy, more of someone who surrendered to us and is willing to give us information. That one Aperture computer-lady also communicates through his head.

_Hello, Dr. Kleiner._

"Ah! Um, Hello, Ms GLaDOS, I believe?"

_That's right._

"Oh. Uh, how did she get in there?"

"We're still trying to figure it out. She blew up the robots, so don't ask about them. Short answer, they tried to kill us, we think they were hacked by the Combine. Enough about our adventures, how the hell have you been?"

"Better than average today, my friend."

"And why's that?"

Kleiner smiled and reached down. "Look who I found."

Barney barely got a chance to look before something leaped on his head, and tried to...

"Jesus! Get this freakin' head humper off of me!"

Llamar jumped off the head to resume his stance by the doctor's side, when the CP unit grabbed Barney's gun.

"No! Don't shoot Hedi! She's debeaked, and is now my pet." Doctor Kleiner tried to reason with the 'enemy', as he stood in front of his alien pet-friend.

The gun was lowered, and put back in Barney's holster.

"Now, if only Chell and Dylan could hurry up and get out of the cabin, we could head off to the Borealis!"

"Chell! Where is she?"

Everyone turned around to see the blond test subject sheepishly hiding behind the doctor, with a frantic blue core in her hands.

"Uh oh." the core muttered. His optic then shifted to Mel. "Change of plans...RUN!"

Mel took off towards the boat, as the others chased after her.

"Mel, what the hell ya doin'?" Barney yelled.

The CP only followed because he promised not to leave Barney's range of sight.

Doctor Kleiner ran because he wanted to get to Chell and Dylan, to tell them to hurry, and now found an excuse in Mel for his running...

* * *

><p>"Chell, come on out. I promise, I won't let this Wheatley guy even see you while we're here. Just come on out, Chell."<p>

Hesitantly, and finally, the door creaked open. Dylan smiled and opened it the rest of the way for her. "Good. Now let's get to the Borealis and-"

"CHELL!" Wheatley screamed.

* * *

><p><strong>Short chapter, and a cliffhanger, but that's because this next chapter, and the rest are gonna be...non-fillery. And now I'm doing poetry! So please review and you will see, that I will update...faster-ly.<strong>

**Sorry, I saw a rhyme I accidentally wrote in my sentence (Are gonna be...non-fillery.), and I decided to expand it. Since we just finished learning Poetry in my English Class. Now we're on Homer's "The Odyssey".**

**I like the part with the Cyclops...**

**Review!**


	23. Forgiving

**Hello, my fans! (I have fans XD)**

**UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE!**

**So, I finished performing for my High School Musical (Children of Eden), and it was AMAZING! I'm gonna kinda miss it, but at least now I have more time for updating!**

**The kid who played Cain...KICK. ASS. AWESOME!**

**And the kid who played the child Cain kept sniffing my hair...creepy 7th grader. Said it smelled like chlorine all the time, too! I never go swimming!**

* * *

><p>Chell jerked her head up from the downward position it was previously in.<p>

"Chell! Oh my God, it really is you, isn't it? At times I thought I saw you, but I knew I didn't because you're bloody here! And here I am!"

Chell's stare became even blanker as she listened to the British-sounding core ramble on, even though by now he was way off the topic he had wanted to discuss.

"Oh, uh, sorry 'bout that, I was stalling. I came here...to say sorry. So here goes: Sorry! I know I was monstrous, and I know I tried saying sorry on the radio before, but _this_ fella turned it off!" he shouted, glaring at Dylan. "So I would assume, anyway. If you didn't turn it off, however, I'm sorry. I'm just full of bloody apologies today, aren't I?"

"No. I turned it off, I did." Dylan answered, subtly pulling Chell away from the robotic sphere.

"Well, if I had hands, I'd backslap you somethin' fierce! I was apologizing to the lovely lady, and you just-"

_Is that idiot really still talking?_ GLaDOS' voice from the CP's helmet asked.

"OH MY GOD _SHE_ HAS A BODY!" Wheatley's optic shot wide open. "We're all doomed!"

"Actually, this here is a Civil Protection officer. That one Computer Lady is using his comm unit to communicate with us." Barney corrected. "Now Mel, why the hell would ya bring that thing down here! You know that he and Chell aren't on good terms!"

"Well I liked him. He seemed nice, and he wanted to apologize, so I brought him to do what he wanted." Mel defended herself.

"Chell, forgive this Wheatley fellow." Dr. Kleiner suggested. "He has done nothing but talk about you..._endlessly_...for the last couple of days."

As soon as they were friends again, they could get to the Borealis...

"Come on, Chell! Forgive the guy!" Mel pleaded.

"Indeed!" Dr. Kleiner urged.

"I'm out of here." Barney mumbled as he stalked off.

Dylan glared at the sphere. "This guy tried to kill you multiple times."

"What would Jesus do?" Wheatley tried, remembering the Bible once again.

Awkward silence.

_Wow, he's certainly changed since the last time he tried to kill us, and not for the better. Well, I guess he _was_ being 'fixed' by Black Mesa..._ GLaDOS mocked.

Everyone glanced between Chell and Wheatley.

"Please, Chell! I'm really, _really_ sorry!" he pleaded.

Chell sighed and glanced at the others in the room.

And nodded at Wheatley, albeit with a scowl on her face.

"Oh, thank you thank you-!"

"Just because she forgave you doesn't mean she trusts you, it doesn't." Dylan continued glaring.

"Well, it's a few steps closer than where I was before, isn't it?" Wheatley attempted a glare back at Dylan.

"Well well, what have we here?" Alyx walked into the room.

Everyone looked at the new member of the drama circle.

"Chell just forgave Wheatley, Dylan and Wheatley are having a staring contest, and my arms are tired." Mel replied, setting the core down. "Sorry buddy."

"No problemo." Wheatley replied from the floor.

"Well, good for everyone. Gordon's already on a helicopter, it's time for everyone to find a fighting partner and climb into the helicopters that have been assigned to you. Yes, Doc. We're going to the Borealis."

_Why bother?_GLaDOS stated. _One, everyone who knows how to operate the equipment on there is dead, and two, if you want to get _them _away from it, just tell me. I'm not just wired to this guy's headset._

Everyone stared at the CP, who seemed to be trying to shrug away into a corner. "It's a little strange with all of you staring at me." his metallic voice mumbled. He definitely seemed more human than all the other CPs they've ever encountered.

"It's...also a rescue mission! Dr. Judith Mossman." Dr. Kleiner tried.

_Very well._ Glados said after a long pause. _I'll pretend to be their dispatcher and lighten up security. I'll also get some updates on this Mossman person._

Kleiner seemed about to jump for joy, but instead said, "I'll be at the helicopters. Everyone, hurry up!" He then sped out of the room, his trusty Llamar following him.

* * *

><p>Gordon retained his 'battle look' as some dubbed it, his look showing no expression, but showed his determination, as he watched the other board their assigned vessels. However, he gave a slight smile when Alyx slipped into his helicopter, on the seat right next to him.<p>

"Ready to go, Gordon?"

Gordon nodded, as he listened to the countdown coming from the speakers of the main building.

"T-minus 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, launch!"

And the helicopters lifted off into the air, not hearing the voice inside of Chell's cabin.

"What about me?" the core looked around rapidly, trying to catch someone's attention.

* * *

><p>"Well, it appears as though your investments are doing exactly what we hoped they would do." The Employer stated to the man known as G-Man.<p>

"Yes, I chose them wisely." he replied.

"And what of your other charges, Shephard and such?"

"He's already part of phase 2." G-Man assured.

"Very well done. However, that Officer Unit accompanying Freeman and his team may prove to be a liability. I'd suggest...lowering the odds of his survival..."

"Of course."

* * *

><p><strong>And there you have it! Easter is my favorite holiday, and I know it's been over a month, but you know, I've been busy! But I'm not giving up on this story! TBC IF I GET REVIEWS!<strong>

Hahaha! I love blackmailing people! Hey, what's up with the giant font? It's like, giant! Ah, who cares, it probably show up once it's uploaded anyway. I'll find out in a few minutes. 


	24. The Plot Thickens!

**And now, the moment you've all been waiting for...**

***Drumroll***

**CHAPTER 24 OF _WHAT HAPPENS NEXT_!**

**Why does this chapter have a great intro like this?**

_**BECAUSE I HAVE 94 REVIEWS, THIS IS THE CHAPTER WHERE I MIGHT MAKE THE 100th MARK!**_

**YEEEHAAAW! V _(*_REA_D BELOW!*)_ V**

**Since I'm so happy, I'll issue a challenge that people might actually do today/tomorrow/whenever. And there will be a winner! The winner's drawings (And the others as honoraries) will have their links on my profile so the others can see what they look like.**

**Draw the OCs in this story. I suck at describing them, so use whatever minimal description you have of them and draw them! DeviantArt or whatever, and send me the link. Remember to use slashes and parenthesis, since FF likes to destroy links. It doesn't matter if you suck at drawing like me, as long as they're not stick people. I just want to see what goes through your heads when you read them in the story.**

**Ends May 25, HAVE FUN IF YOU WANT TO PARTICIPATE!**

* * *

><p>"Yes?" the man in the suit responded to his employers.<p>

"The Combine have done exactly what we wanted. The Borealis' security has lightened considerably. Your charges are doing very well."

"I agree." the man replied.

"However, despite the tremendous progress, we need to hurry. The Borealis is reaching its limit."

G-Man nodded.

"I understand. I'll...make some advancements immediately." he responded as he loosened his tie.

* * *

><p>Amy sat back in her chair, admiring her office. Glancing from object to item, she recalled how she obtained them, then remembered saving them during the Seven Hour War.<p>

Before the War, life was great. She was rich, she was happy, she was married, she had a great job, had great friends, and the greatest son in the world. Little Adrian.

She sighed at the memory as she fingered the old, worn photo of the young dark-haired man, dressed in his Marine uniform. He was so quiet, but he got his dream job. She hoped that he wasn't called to help 'clean up' the Black Mesa Incident. She remembered barely surviving Marine attacks.

The photo started to glow. No, never mind.

The _room_ started to glow!

"Mrs. Shephard..." a broken-English voice eerily called.

"Hello?" she called, dropping the picture.

"_Mom._" she heard the distinct whisper of her son.

"Adrian! Where are you?" she jumped up from the chair and searched the room.

"Stage two, Miss." the first, eerie voice responded. "Your son...reminds me so much of myself...but he was too dangerous."

"_Mom!_"

"You do wish for him to live, right?"

"Of course!" Amy called.

Just then a middle-aged man in a blue suit walked out of a green portal. "Then follow me." he held out his hand.

And Amy took it.

* * *

><p>"So then, I went off with Rosenburg and the others, and we high-tailed it out of there!" Barney boasted through the comms.<p>

"Calhoun! For the last time, these links are for _emergencies_!" Magnusson scolded.

"Come on, man! Don't you want to know what happened to your buddies?"

Silence.

"They made it for a little while. They jumped into action when the Combine invaded, felt they were responsible for it. They...didn't make the seven hours..."

Silence.

"But we sure as hell escaped Black Mesa! Right as we left, it exploded, too."

"Barney, maybe we should listen to Magnusson." Alyx said through the comms., noticing Gordon's discomfort.

"Alyx, how'd you escape?" Barney asked.

Alyx paused. "I'm...not sure. I can't remember, really."

"Well, you were just a kid. Maybe Azian helped ya out, may she rest in peace."

Silence.

"Well, we're here!" Kleiner's optimistic voice called out through the systems.

"About time!" Dylan called as he started to unbuckle his seatbelt, when Chell slapped his hand away.

"There she is!" Kleiner called as they hovered above the Borealis, Combine soldiers scrambling around getting their weapons ready for the ambush.

"They've spotted us, they did!" Dylan called.

"Pilots, descend!"

The helicopters started their simultaneous descent, and those who were fighting were prepping their own weapons, ready for action.

Atlas and P-body grabbed two of their own guns, and jumped from their helicopter, squealing as they fell. Chell, with her long-fall boots, followed suit.

She took with her her portal gun, and an old magnum, with lots of clips.

She landed on the ice, mildly cracking around her as she used the portal gun to maneuver herself onto the boat, behind two Combine guarding the entrance, and shot them without any hesitation.

The choppers landed down, and the force of human and robot engaged in battle with the Combine, as Chell and her trusty portal device ran through the boat, to locate Dr. Mossman.

Gordon fought alongside the Resistance, watching Chell follow her orders, as he thought about what to do.

Collect technology from the Borealis...

...Or destroy it?

* * *

><p>"Mom..." Adrian whispered as the man in the suit returned with his mother.<p>

"Adrian!" she called as she ran after him, and the two embraced. "Where are we?" she asked as she glanced around the forest surrounding them.

G-man smirked. "The New World."

And with that, he walked away.

* * *

><p>Barney helped command the rebels as they neared victory. Just as the CP unit that was with them aimed his gun at an Elite Soldier, everything froze.<p>

"Mr. Calhoun. It appears as though you are now in range." a man appeared, completely calm amidst the frozen battle.

"Who the hell are you?"

* * *

><p><em>What's going on? What's happening!<em>

_A Quantum Displacement._

_It's him!_ GLaDOS nearly screamed.

_What do you want?_ she called from the CP's helmet.

Barney jerked around to face the unmoving CP. "GLaDOS?"

_Get away from him! _GLaDOS screamed.

Barney instinctively jumped away.

_He's dangerous_!

The Aperture Science robots stirred to life, and the Vortigaunts who joined on the mission started to move, and chanted in their native language.

G-man then grabbed Barney. "We'll see...about _that!_"

And they vanished, just as the Vortigaunts launched an attack.

"Shaaaa!" a Vortigaunt called, just as the others started to stir.

The remaining Combine lowered their weapons, as the rebels did the same in shock.

"_Target 667935._" A Combine leader called._  
><em>

The CP unit on the rebel sighed dropped his weapon in shock.

"Where's Barney?" Alyx whispered, waiting for the Combine to make a move.

_"Target 667935._" the CP replied. "_Known informally as G-man, the Man in the Suit. He is the reason the Combine's resources disappeared."_

"Which is why the Combine invaded us, isn't it?" Dylan questioned.

Kleiner turned to the Vortigaunts. "And the Combine did the same to your world."

"Only to Xen. Our real world was taken by this man."

Some unknown language was yelled to the Combine soldiers from the 'leader', and all weapons were dropped.

"It would appear that we all have a common enemy." another Vortigaunt stated.

Just then Chell emerged with a wounded Mossman in tow.

Mossman looked up at the scene before her.

She then stated, to both the Combine and the rebels, "The portal neither...leads to your world or Xen...Another place..."

"Where?" Kleiner asked.

Mossman gasped in pain. "A place where another one of their enemies resides...A New World..."

* * *

><p>A group consisting of Combine, Vortigaunts, and Humans sat in a room conversing, while other humans outside protested against an alliance with the Combine.<p>

Just then Dr. Freeman walked out of the building to the angry crowd, followed by Alyx.

"The Alliance has been made. Let us explain!" she shouted the last part as the crowd started to yell.

"The Combine came after us for our resources, and we had things they needed; a base, resources, potential soldiers, and The Borealis, the portal to the new World GLaDOS admitted to making for him."

_When they were about to put Caroline into me, she was dying from the amounts of painkillers they gave her. She wasn't supposed to be dead then mapped, so they worked as quickly as possible. That resulted in a jumbled up mess that almost shut my entire system down. Then the man came and said he would help us both live if we modified a portal aboard a boat in the Antarctic. And if she died, I would be shut down, so we were both in trouble, so I agreed. I killed the entire team of scientists as well as those aboard the boat, and hid the vessel where nobody could stumble across it._ she explained.

"This happened during the Resonance Cascade, which we believe was caused by this suited man." Another scientist continued as he walked up behind them. "That was the final necessary step to activate the portal to the New World. It also attracted the Combine, and this man knew it. From what we gathered from people, he's been trying to create an army of special individuals to help him destroy the Combine. We believe Barney is with him."

* * *

><p>G-man sighed as he watched the scene before him. Humans had gotten smarter, and this was <em>not<em> good.

He sighed again when his last hope, the angry humans, started to agree with the small group that formed the Alliance. His plan was failing. He knew the portal would attract the Combine, and that they would attack Earth. That was their way. Then, the Resonance Cascade would bring in the creatures from Xen, and the Combine already took their resources, and the Xen would attack the invading humans since they didn't want _two_ races ruling over them, so it would be a three-way war. While they were distracted by that, he could pick the people he deemed worthy and pluck out the problems, while continuing to get the resources he needed for the New World.

It looks like that wasn't going to work out. His employers would not be pleased...

Perhaps he should have listened when they told him to eliminate the rebel CP, he helped the many species understand each other and form the Alliance...

Well then. They want another war?

They can have it.

* * *

><p><strong>Alyx always knows when someone is missing, doesn't she?<strong>

**I know this chapter sucks compared to the others, but I had to speed it up, don't want angry reviewers...but crappy chapters probably make angry reviewers, doesn't it...**

**Crap.**

**Oh well, PLEASE REVIEW! 100 REVIEWS!**

**DRAW IF YOU WANT TO!**


	25. Disappearances and Explosions

This was not going well at all for the G-Man. All of his enemies had grouped together to destroy him!

At least his people had their own allies that helped them out before. G-Man smiled. It must be time to bring back the Race X. He glanced once more at the rebels at their base near the Borealis. "Time to go."

* * *

><p>"Hey!" Alyx called as she ran up to the rebel and Combine soldier, Mel right behind. "Put your weapons away. We've formed a temporary truce, remember?"<p>

"_The rebel failed to comply with-_"

"I don't think so. While we're working together, you're not in charge of us, and we don't kill each other!" Mel interrupted.

The soldier seemed to growl as it grudgingly stomped off, never taking his eyes off the three humans. "_This crime will not be forgotten._"

As soon as the soldier was gone, Alyx turned to the man who was still clutching his weapon angrily. "And you, what's your story?"

"Have you _forgotten_? They took over our planet and killed the majority of our population! You expect me to-"

"Yes. Just for now." Alyx replied. "It's hard for me too, believe me, but this suited guy kidnapped Barney and Amy, probably killed my dad, and caused the Black Mesa Incident and the Seven Hour War."

The man sighed. "He was gonna kill me if I didn't step to the side and allow him to search me!"

Alyx sighed. "This isn't going to work..." she whispered to herself.

_"Ksswirras!"_ a strange voice shouted, and Alyx, Mel, and the rebel turned just in time to see a green orb fly at them and bounce on the ground in front of them.

"What the hell...?"

An explosion of green slime decorated the hallways as the three humans jumped away in pain.

"Ow! God, what the hell!" the rebel nearly screamed as he picked up his dropped gun and started firing in the direction the strange bomb was thrown from.

"Billy!" Alyx yelled and grabbed the top of the gun. "You're shooting at nothing."

"My name's Frank!" he yelled as he jerked his gun away. "And I'm shooting at that _thing_ right over there!"

The girls turned and gasped at the alien before them, holding an insect-looking device shooting sparks towards them. The trio ducked inside of some rooms pulling out their weapons and aimed to fire-but nothing was there.

Mel and Frank turned around at the sound of Alyx's gasp and could only watch as the thing teleported away in a small explosion of purple sparks, taking Alyx with it.

Soon the sound of bullets reached the shocked two from the outside.

* * *

><p>The Combine pulled out their weapons and started firing in the direction of the rebels, who quickly ducked behind whatever they could find.<p>

"I knew we couldn't trust the-" _ZAP!_

"A female rebel screamed as she saw her fellow rebel be electrocuted in front of her. She looked behind them to notice creatures she had never seen before, and she discovered that the Combine's bullets were aiming for the creatures.

"Guys! Look behind you!" she shouted as the others started to catch on and pull out their own guns, and fired at the attacking new enemies.

There were several creatures they had never seen before, all right. And once one died, their weapons seemed to turn to life and attacked the unprepared humans, trying to latch onto their hands. The humans shot at the 'weapons', and continued firing until they ran out of ammunition, and scrambled to find whatever minute amount was left to use, only to realize it was all gone, and the Combine continued shooting with their seemingly endless supply of ammo.

"Where's the ammo?"

Another rebel called out soon after.

"Where the hell is Freeman?"

* * *

><p>Gordon silently walked through the halls of the Borealis, gun fully loaded and he was placing explosives he found at the base in certain positions using a map he got during his visit with the injured Mossman.<p>

_"You have to destroy it. The technology in there is much too dangerous if it's in the wrong hands, I don't trust anyone with it!" she nearly cried as she begged Gordon. "I know I've lied in the past, but this is for the greater good of everyone!" she handed him a heavy bag and a map of the Borealis. "Please, Gordon."_

_Gordon looked at the wounded Mossman, who obviously wasn't going to make it, and knew that she had no reason to lie as she sat on her deathbed. He nodded at her and grabbed the map and bag._

_Mossman smiled and closed her eyes, whispering a small 'thanks.'_

Gordon motioned for D0G to lift up a fallen part of the ship. As the robot obliged, Gordon squeezed through the tight fit and continued placing the last of the explosives before heading out to meet the other robots, who were outside standing watch should someone come by.

As Gordon and D0G ran towards the exit, an almost purple hue surrounded Gordon, making it difficult for him to move at all as he noticed that the rest of time was standing still.

"Doctor Freeeeemannn..."

Gordon used most of his energy to hide the detonator behind his back as the G-Man appeared in front of him.

"Are you sure you...wish to do this?" G-Man gestured to an explosive in his hand.

Gordon kept his face set in a defiant look as he struggled to move.

"Gordon, please. I'm offering you a place in a new world, free from violence, corruption, and hunger. Some of your...friends are already there...happy, and waiting for _you_." he tried to convince Gordon, holding out his hand.

"You're under contract and everything, Mr. Freeman. You agreed to work for me ever since you stepped into that portal...please don't disappoint me. How many times have i saved your life?"

Gordon knew what he had to do. He struggled but kept the pain hidden from his face as he willed his finger to move just a little farther.

"The Borealis is very important to this, Gordon. Please, come with me, and live a life of luxury. After all, you deserve it. Just look at all the good you've done for-"

Gordon pushed the button.

The man in the suit scowled. "Very well. Prepare for unforseen consequences..." he stated as the purple hue faded, and the explosion started all around him.

The last thing he saw before he blacked out was a very confused looking face of an old orange robot, surrounded in flames.

* * *

><p>As quickly as the strange aliens came, they vanished. Everyone stopped their firing, then the humans turned to the Combine.<p>

"What the HELL guys?" one guy yelled. "You could have shot us! We're working together, right?"

"_A few casualties from our bullets is nothing compared to the loss you might have obtained with the surprise attack behind you-"_

"Screw that! You were trying to kill us all-!" the man was silenced as a Combine bullet entered his head.

The rebels aimed their weapons at the Combine when Mel popped out of a building.

"Alyx is gone!" Mel yelled as she ran out to the other rebels. "A strange creature took her!"

"Oh god!" Dylan yelled. "Chell!" he cried as he ran off. Various cries of Chell's name could be heard before he ran back. "Chell's gone too!"

The rebels started to look panicked, and looked around them to make sure people they knew, as the Combine hesitantly lowered their weapons.

"Where the hell is Freeman!" Dylan screamed.

Mel started to look around. "And where'd the robots go?"

* * *

><p>It was around nightfall when the sound of metallic feet against snow came rushing towards the base in a stampede.<p>

"What the-" a rebel whispered to himself as he looked towards the noise, to notice all their robots were running towards them at an alarming rate. The tall orange one looked beat up, and seemed to be carrying something as it ran along.

Soon the small army of robots slowed and reached the base, and the orange one dropped a badly beat-up Freeman in front of the rebel, all the robots staring at the rebel in distressed sadness.

"Oh God...!" the rebel cried as he ran for help.

* * *

><p><strong>Nah. I don't know what's wrong with me! I keep erasing and editing, but no matter what I do, to me it seems like crap! So I gave up after a while, and at least you get the idea, right? Oh, and THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE 100 REVIEWS! I REALLY ENJOYED THAT!<strong>

**Nobody's an artist, huh? Never fear, I'm not either. I'll get my sister to draw the OC's then.**

**Reviews make me update faster! lol**


	26. FILLERLAND

__**I'm trying to make the next chapter really good, so while I write that one, I hope you can forgive the time it will take to update. However, I feel pretty bad about making you wait that long, so here's a filler chapter, hope you don't mind. You don't even really need to read this chapter.**

* * *

><p><em>"Hushabye, don't you cry, go to sleep my little baby..."<em>

__The Combine soldier listened to the soft, weak voice singing as he crept down the hall in his invisibility cloaking device. He had heard that someone had broken the number one Combine rule and had a child! That was unacceptable. He had to do something about it, truce or not. However, he only was able to smuggle a few bullets, and most of them were fired during the surprise attack a couple hours ago. He had only one left...so which one would he choose, the mother or the child?

He silently cocked his weapon ready as he neared the medical bay, which was significantly warmer than the rest of the base.

_"When you wake, you will have...all the pretty little horses..."_

He gently opened the door and proceeded to walk through, closing the door softly behind him.

"Doctor?"

The soldier stiffened, trying very hard not to even breathe.

There was an uneasy shuffling before the soft cries of an infant brought the sweet melody back.

_"Dapples, and Grays...Pintos and Bays...all the pretty little horses..."_

* * *

><p>Alyx walked around the strange place. It seemed she was just in a forest, and now she found herself in some sort of prairie with the trees far in the distance.<p>

"Hello?" she called again. "Does anyone know where I am?" she asked annoyed.

"Alyx? Oh man! I can't believe it!" she heard Barney call back as she turned around to meet the form of Barney running toward her.

"Barney? Any idea where the hell we are?"

"Not a clue, but I just met up with Amy and her son."

"Amy has a son? Wow."

"Yeah, he's pretty quiet, and hangs around something he calls a 'Shock Trooper.' Said he knew 'im ever since the creature was a 'Spore'. I think he knows where we are, he just won't tell us. Keeps talking about a 'phase two' or somethin'."

"Will ya bring me to him? I need to get back."

"Good luck." Barney gave a mock salute. "He's this way."

* * *

><p>The crying soon died down and the Combine slowly crept towards the singing voice, when the sounds of a stampeding army interrupted the mother and soldier.<p>

"Just down this hall!"

"Hang in there, Gordon, hang in there!"

"CAN ANYBODY HEAR ME?" a british voice called out through the noise, only to be seemingly ignored based on his following cries and the footsteps coming closer to the Med Bay.

The combine dove for the farthest corner, desperately hoping he wouldn't get caught. He quickly hid his gun behind a shelf just as the doors opened to reveal the small parade carrying Anticitizen One. They quickly placed him down on the bed next to the mother's, and the medics scrambled to patch up the near-broken figure.

It seemed like hours before a stuttering man repeatedly told the crowd to disperse, and in a few minutes, the crowd slowly started to listen. The soldier watched as the mother holding the wailing child silently watched all this take place, before brushing her wavy brown hair away from her face and continue her tune.

Soon, the HEV suit was stripped from the Freeman, leaving said man only in his regular citizen clothing, which soon was replaced with an old tattered hospital gown as the doctors continued to diagnose the big problems.

The room grew quiet with nothing but the sounds of the doctors' tools working and the mother's lullaby, when the effects of the short battle started to bear down on the Combine.

After a while of trying to stay awake, the doctors decided to call it a night, leaving only the mother and child's soft breathing in the room, the Freeman's breathing mysteriously missing from the sleeping trio.

* * *

><p>"Alyx?"<p>

"Hi Amy." Alyx greeted. "So this is where you went..."

Amy smiled. "Yes. My son was here too!"

Alyx smiled a bit. "I didn't even know you had one. But, can I talk to him?"

Amy's smile dropped. "Is it about the Black Mesa Incident?"

"No, why would I talk to him about that? Besides, I barely remember anything then, I was just a kid. Is this important?"

A fake smile appeared on Amy's features. "No, just wondering. Adrian?"

Alyx turned to see a man walk towards them from something that resembled an old house.

"This is Alyx, I've known her since she was an infant. She would like to talk with you?"

"We're in Phase 2. We can't do any harm to anyone, and no one can do us harm."

Barney scoffed. "Told ya."

Alyx raised an eyebrow. "Okay, but that didn't really answer my...unspoken...question.

"It's a place where remarkable but dangerous people are chosen to reside. The New World."

* * *

><p>The soldier jerked awake in the corner, glancing around the dark room in a hurry. He quickly grabbed his gun and tried to cock it, remembering that he had already done so previously. He looked at the three still bodies when he realized he had a dilemma.<p>

The one and only Freeman? Or the mother or child?

It was then that he noticed one of the still forms was facing him...and had her eyes open.

"Hello." she whispered.

The Combine, still affected from sleep, didn't register that it was him being addressed.

"Mr. Combine, I know you're there."

Just then the Combine froze in realization. After a long hesitation, his metallic voice sounded out, "_How_?"

"You snore, and it sounds funny coming from your helmet. I can't see you, though."

The Combine stood up, no longer trying to be stealthy as he pointed his gun at the trio, still undecided. They would need the Freeman, he realized, to help destroy 667935. That left him with his original decision.

"What's your name?" she asked.

The child didn't really do anything wrong either, so he would really have no legal reason to kill that, but it would have to be confiscated.

The mother it is, then.

He pointed the gun at its final target and responded, "_Classified_."

"Hmm." the mother yawned. "I'm going back to sleep."

The soldier chuckled. "_Okay_." He started to move closer, deciding which way would kill her the quickest, most painless way. She was pretty nice, after all.

The woman smiled and kissed her sleeping child before closing her eyes. "Goodnight." she called softly.

He lowered his gun the tiniest bit. "_What's your name?_"

"Lillian. My baby's name is Hope." she responded, her eyes still closed.

The Combine nodded, grabbing a pillow from a nearby bed to help muffle the noise, he didn't want to wake the baby.

"_Goodnight, Lillian._"

* * *

><p><em>"Ditdit."<em>

Adrian smiled as a strange creature strolled up to the four humans.

"I named it Chuck." Adrian said.

"_Kimlkiml_."

Adrian gave a small glare to the creature, who in turn started to turn around and run calling "_Kagablis bliska!_"

Adrian gave a small laugh and the creature returned. Adrian than stroked the top of its head, and the creature gave a small purr of contentment.

"Okay then..." Barney awkwardly stated. "Is that all you're gonna tell us, is this 'phase 2' crap again?"

"That's all we need to know. We're safe here." Amy answered for him. "You should be lucky you were chosen."

* * *

><p>G-Man smirked as he stood a distance away from the four. Now he only needed a few more people from Earth, then the Combine would be free to do whatever they wanted with it, seeing as he's take the remaining resources for his new world.<p>

If only they'd understand that him and his employers needed a new home base. And every business is always looking for others to do their dirty work...

* * *

><p><em>BANG!<em>

Lillian gasped and shot her eyes open as the baby started to cry, and the soldier fell backwards, blood pooling around him. She quickly looked in the direction of the shooter to see none other than the Freeman holding a Glock 17 in his hand.

"Mr. Freeman!" she called, just as a small stampede of people entered the room, blinding the trio when the lights shot on.

Lillian started to sing to her child once again as the others scattered around the room, looking for the bullet's target when the soldier's invisibility cloaking device wore off. It was then that Lillian noticed the pillow right next to her head, the soldier's gun right behind it, pointing at her skull. She watched as the body of the soldier that was so close to her was pulled out of the room, and doctors tended to the bedridden trio to look for any signs of injury.

Gordon stared at the young mother, this was his first time seeing her, and his first time seeing an infant in who knows how long.

"Thank you." Lillian whispered to him when the child was near sleep.

Gordon gave a stiff nod as the woman smiled.

"It looks like the Vortigaunts healed you up really well."

Another nod.

"It's nice to see that you're okay."

Gordon gave the tiniest of smiles, itching to get up and search for his missing friends.

Lillian stood up and slowly walked towards the sitting Freeman and gently held out her baby.

"Want to hold her?"

Gordon stiffened up a bit, but Lillian softly placed the infant in his arms. Gordon held the child awkwardly in his arms as the woman smiled once again at him.

"You saved my life, and my baby's." she stated. "You're a savior."

Gordon watched the delicate human fall asleep in his arms, thinking about the little life he just saved. The humans will have a pretty big talk about this with the Combine come the dawn.

* * *

><p><strong>Sorry again about the filler. Update when I finally decide the new chapter is perfection!<strong>

***Grabs OCD meds***


	27. Back on Track!

**iDOG, DON'T KILL ME!**

**Wow, I never thought a reviewer could actually threaten me to update and actually have me scared.**

**So before he kills me, I decided to update before his deadline, July 8th.**

**Take that.**

* * *

><p>Gordon, now mostly healed, walked to the main room, where Combine and Humans alike were ready for their attack strategy. He walked past Kleiner (Who was giving him the silent treatment for blowing up the Borealis. Two could play at that game...) and stood next to Chell and Dylan, his only friends who hadn't been taken yet. Sure, Kleiner and Magnusson were his friends, and they were technically the same age as him, but since he was in stasis, he was mentally the same age as Alyx, Chell, and Dylan. Even though Barney had aged considerably, he hadn't changed much, and so he had the same mentality that he did 20 years previous.<p>

God, spend 20 years and stasis and everything confuses you.

"We suspect the man to abduct either Gordon, Alyx, or Chell next, with the possibility of Mel, Dylan, Kleiner, or I as close second victims." Magnusson stated to everyone. "Therefore, those listed, plus a few extra, will be monitored."

The CP unit with GLaDOS installed in his Comm. unit shuffled his way to Gordon.

_How are you holding up?_ GLaDOS' voice asked Gordon.

Gordon nodded, and the CP unit vocalized the silent man's answer into his microphone.

_Are you going to go after him, or are you going to submit to being monitored for a length of time._

Gordon smirked, and the answer was clear to them all.

* * *

><p><em>Subject: Gordon Freeman<em>

_Status: Compromised. _

G-Man sighed. It would appear that his number one employee was turning against him. Shouldn't he feel honored that his employers find him worthy enough to work for them? With the upcoming universal war he and his employers were about to unleash, he would be one of the select few to live as kings while the others scrambled for resources (While his company took them, admittedly, for the select few). They would become heroes in the eyes of future generations throughout the universe once G-Man and his employers took it over.

Where was that man's sense of pride?

* * *

><p>"Come on, guys, we gotta get out of here and help the others back on Earth!" Alyx tried to convince, so far only Barney standing on her side.<p>

"I don't see what the big problem is!" Amy shot back. "Here, instead of scavenging for food and shelter, we're giving everything we need on a silver platter! We deserve as much after all we've done to help others!"

"But the _others_still need our help!" Barney shot right back at her.

Adrian tried to remain silent, soon the two newcomers would understand.

"People are _dying_. These people who are giving us luxury stole it from other, helpless people! They're planning on taking over the entire universe, from what we can understand!"

"And this 'big, bad company' sees us as valuable mercenaries who deserve to be treated with respect! They're not fighting us, they're welcoming us with open arms!" Amy replied.

"They're not 'welcoming' us! They're keeping us away from the people we used to help so they could take everything over without resistance from us! They find us a threat to their plan! They just might kill us all when this is done and over with!" Alyx shouted as Barney nodded in agreement, a smirk on his face. Someone oughtta put this woman in the right place.

Adrian frowned a little at that. "They might not kill us, after seeing that we could be of use to them." he offered.

"Listen, kid. Why'd you join the Marines? To help serve your country. Well, guess what! You wouldn't have been 'chosen', you wouldn't have had any abilities to make you stand out if it hadn't been for the training your country gave you! And right now, your country is gone. All that's left is a shell of it along with various others taken over by an alien race. Is that a way to thank them after they gave you what you needed to be considered 'valuable'?" Barney voiced.

"Nice one, Barney." Alyx said.

"Anytime."

Adrian wrinkled his face in thought, and turned to his Shock Trooper friend, only to notice his buddy was now standing next to the newcomers.

_Kimlkiml._ his friend taunted.

Oh, it is on. Adrian thought as he soon joined them.

"Adrian!" Amy cried as she witnessed this.

"Mom." was all he said.

Alyx and Barney smiled at this, before talking amongst them.

"Now, since we're here, we have the advantage of being near the...HQ or whatever." Barney stated.

"The others back on Earth probably don't know where to start-"

"Gordon?" Amy suddenly asked.

Adrian, Alyx, and Barney all spun around to see the face of their friend right behind them.

* * *

><p>Chell walked around the facility with Dylan, who was talking about how unfair his new privileges were.<p>

"I mean, it's not as if _we_ did anything wrong, it's not! We're just possible victims! You don't put the victims in prison! It's just-!"

"LET ME OUT LET ME OUT LET ME OUT!" a familiar British voice called from a room.

Dylan scoffed and proceeded to walk past the door where the voice came from, while Chell opened it.

"Oh, come on!" Dylan cried as the spherical idiot rolled out of the room.

"Thanks, mate." Wheatley replied coolly.

"What were you even doing in there, I thought we got you back a few hours ago!" Dylan asked smugly.

"The orange jumpsuit fella, put me in there when I asked him where he was goin'. Shoved me right in!"

"Where did he go?" Dylan asked, dropping the smirk.

"That way, Mr. Bossy." Wheatley said, his optic pointing down the hall. "Not even a minute ago. Was with the guy _Her_ voice was coming from."

The two dropped Wheatley and ran off in the direction pointed out, just in time to see a bright flash from the teleporter machine, the CP standing back a ways from the source.

"Where'd...how...?" Dylan started, just as the CP turned towards them.

_I remember building the portal for the Borealis quite clearly._ GLaDOS stated. _I simply put the coordinates in here, and sent him on his way to retrieve his friends, and to finally put a stop to this man. _

Dylan and Chell couldn't help but smirk.

_No more rides, though. You're gonna half to help him from this side of the universe._

"How?" Dylan asked.

_Earth is next on his company's radar. You might want to help protect it._

* * *

><p><strong>No deadlines, please! It took me forever to figure out how to word this chapter, and to edit it and revise it and to make it sound good. Plus, with the stress of a deadline iDOG so graciously bestowed upon me, I almost blew my head off. Here's your update, enjoy it, review it, and let me work at stuff on my own damn pace!<strong>

**Just kidding, I love you all.**

**But seriously, no deadlines, because then I feel obligated to update them by the time given, and then my whole life has gone to wreck until it's updated, and then I pass out. **

**Goodnight everyone!**

**REVIEW**


	28. Conflictions

**Sorry for my rant, my fans, but I have to say a few words to my personal little troll here. **

**One, I always saw Kleiner as a kind of guy who tried to keep a cool head in any situation, I personally didn't see him to be the type to go "HOLY SHIT AN ADVISOR JUST KILLED MY FRIEND SOUND THE ALARMS, CALL THE MEDICS!" And if he would do that in this situation, pardon me for being the big jerk who decided to get autism, making it hard to decipher personalities and emotions. Sorry for ruining the story for you.**

**Two, the whole 'grandkids' thing was just something to lighten the mood, and to hint at the crush Gordon and Alyx have on each other. Seeing as I've got over a hundred positive reviews, I highly doubt it spoiled my book.**

**Three, the portal gun doesn't only work on moon rocks. I quote Cave Johnson here "Turns out [ground up moon rocks are] a great portal conductor", thus stating it's not the only one, and you didn't use the moon-gel until later in the SECOND game, proving my point stated above.**

**So, despite all your efforts to prove I'm a horrible author, the only thing you've proven is the fact that you're a douchebag. Congratulations. And based on the way your reviews were written, I'd say you'd need to learn a thing or two about punctuation, capitalization, spelling, and making the reader enjoy what's written.**

**Sorry for being mean, but that just got on my nerves, and everyone needs an outlet every now and then. On with the story for my awesome followers!**

* * *

><p>"Well, how'ya doin', buddy?" Barney asked as the shock of seeing his friend here wore off.<p>

Gordon nodded and tossed him a shotgun, earning an 'Awesome!' from the security guard.

He then turned to Alyx and handed her her special gun he had taken the liberty of taking from her room before he left.

Gordon then noticed the old marine, and after a small shrug, tossed Adrian a Combine Pulse Rifle. Adrian and Alyx smiled their thanks.

"Did he get you too?" Alyx asked.

Gordon shook his head and smirked.

"He's not going to be happy, you know." Amy stated.

"Yeah, we know." Barney smirked as well.

Gordon shrugged and proceeded to start walking away, the three armed Resistance following.

After a while, Amy sighed and walked into her new house, hoping her son would soon come to his senses.

* * *

><p>G-Man frowned at what the screens were showing. Gordon was supposed to be last, the 'Guest of Honor', if you will. At least it didn't seem as though more were coming, though.<p>

Were those guns?

A low growl escaped his lips as he glared at the man in orange. The Freeman was ruining _everything_.

Then, he glanced at Shephard's companion, the Shock Trooper. A small smile crept upon his face. Perhaps he could fix this after all...

* * *

><p>The quartet silently walked through the empty world, Alyx and Barney occasionally commenting on various things along the way. It seemed like hours before the blinding flash came...<p>

...Followed by a small army of aliens.

Adrian's eyes flew up in recognition. Pit Drones, Shock Troopers, Voltigores, and Shock Roaches he recognized them as.

Just as the four raised their guns to shoot, Adrian's Shock Trooper stopped them all by running out in front of them, arms outstretched. Adrian quickly got the other three's attention, not wanting his old friend shot at.

"But man, he's-" Barney started, only to be elbowed in the gut by Alyx.

The four then turned to watch their ally communicate with the army. Adrian held his breath as one enemy Shock Trooper held out a Shock Roach, and his friend was seeming to be in the middle of a hard decision.

The guns were raised again as their old ally grabbed the Shock Roach, but before any bullets could graze him, he ran back to the small team and fired at the Race X aliens alongside the Resistance.

Adrian gave a small smile in relief, and the others merely shrugged it off as the battle went on.

However, as soon as they arrived, the vanished, leaving behind a smell so strong everyone held their breath.

The stench wouldn't go away, and as they tried to find some oxygen, the stench entered their systems. It traveled through their veins until all four of the humans plunged into unconsciousness.

* * *

><p>After Dylan had gotten the message of where Gordon was, nobody was really happy. The only ones on his side were Chell and Mel, and a few others who didn't want to speak out in front of the angry mob.<p>

Like Kleiner for example. Gordon was a good friend, and he believed in him, but he wasn't the type to really stand up to anything. Even during the Uprising, he just stayed holed up in a lab, helping out the best way he could.

Silently.

"He has all our ammo, how're we gonna fight the enemy, huh?" one shouted.

"He has responsibilities here, he can't just run from them!" another cried.

Then the two Aperture robots and D0G appeared on the stage, appearing to defend the trio of the pro-Gordon side.

"He's _Gordon Freeman_, I'm sure he knows what he's doing." Mel stated.

"Yes, he is, don't you worry!" Dylan tried. "He is trying to help all of us, you know!"

This seemed to quiet the mob down some, but they were still angry. Of course they knew Gordon was helping them, but what were they supposed to do while he was gone? Dr. Freeman always had luck on his side, now that he was gone, was all their luck gone too?

Kleiner sighed and stood up. "They're right. Gordon went straight to the enemy, probably the most dangerous thing there is. We should be helping him the best we can by fighting for Earth!"

The humans cheered, while the Combine seemed to scoff. The humans could go ahead and fight the enemy 'for Earth.' They just didn't seem to remember at the moment that the Earth was still property of the Combine.

And it always will be.

* * *

><p><strong>Sorry for the super short chapter, I really truly am, but the big battle's coming up next. Well, part of it anyway. I'm through with the stalling, let's get this thing in motion!<strong>


	29. Foretold Fatality

**Apparently****, I have magical powers, because every time I try to make an omelette, it mysteriously turns to scrambled eggs...**

**UNTIL NOW, BABY! Sure, it was a little sloppy, burned, and falling apart but it still looked pretty good! And tasted good too, as soon as you scraped off the burned parts (Leaving less than half the omelette left to consume). But I'm pretty darn happy. Plus, one of my best friends in the entire world just got me a 2-liter bottle of Dr. Pepper, my favorite. It's my first 2-liter that was actually mine alone. Except for the fact that I let my sister and my friend have a small cup each. Which means 2 less cups for me...**

**And now it's almost gone. :( Scratch that, it's _all_ gone now, I just drank the rest. D`:**

* * *

><p>"Well, this is strangely convenient." Alyx remarked as the group stood in front of a tall building. Barney gave a 'hell yeah' in agreement as they walked through the luckily unlocked doors, Gordon and Adrian behind them. Adrian's pet, which they learned he had named Chris, stayed behind.<p>

"Come on, Chris." Adrian tried.

"Hey, why don't you have an accent like your mom?" Barney asked.

"I was born in America, she was an immigrant." he whispered, as the four silently stalked through the halls, eventually coming to an office that seemed strikingly familiar to Gordon. On the screen behind the desk was the Black Mesa logo, now occasionally fading out from static.

Alyx also seemed to sense something familiar about this place, no doubt she was also visited by him during her unconscious state.

However, something was off. There was a crate stashed in the corner. Curious, Gordon walked toward to it and smashed it open with his trusty crowbar, revealing several CDs.

"What the hell are these?" Alyx asked as she walked over, picking one up.

Barney and Adrian joined the two, Chris still standing awkwardly by the door, seeming ready to bolt.

The discs had names on them. Sidney Jones, Nathaniel Thomson, Cassie Streigh, Lillian Stormson, Elijah Vance...

Alyx gasped as she picked it up, careful not to get any fingerprints on the underside.

Barney got down and started sorting through them too, eventually holding another up. "Hey Gordon, this one has your name on it." he stated as he handed it over.

Said man held it and saw that it indeed had GORDON FREEMAN written on it.

"There's mine." Adrian pointed out.

Alyx dropped down to her knees again. "Barney, this one has yours."

Gordon eventually found Alyx's name, as well as others he recognized.

Issac Kleiner, Judith Mossman, Caroline Strong, Cave Johnson, and more.

"What the hell?!" Barney exclaimed as he examined his.

Gordon turned to the fading monitor sporting the Black Mesa logo, noticing a slot off to the side of it. He carefully inserted the disc with his name on it.

The monitor lost all static and the logo vanished, soon replaced by the words 'disc empty'.

Frowning, the disc was ejected, to be replaced by Cave Johnson's disc.

The screen went black.

"Well it's about damn time!" a gruff voice called from the speakers.

Any discs in anyone's hands were immediately dropped as they stared at the blank screen, and it eventually lit up to reveal a picture of the long-dead man.

* * *

><p>The alien army arrived, but the humans and Combine were ready. They were armed with the few weapons that still had ammo left for them. The Combine, however, were a different story. They seemed to have limitless ammo, as they fired left and right at the attacking aliens.<p>

The humans also had a supply of melee weapons that were used against the small pit drones and such, while the Combine shot at the bigger, more dangerous aliens, few humans helping them.

Mel and Chell were stationed on a loft high up near the ceiling, placing portals beneath the aliens' feet, confusing the victims momentarily, allowing others to finish them off.

Dylan had taken on the job of a medic, helping heal both Combine and Human, to the Combine's surprise and humans' confusion.

The robots seemed to turn this battle into a game, all trying to plow through the most while shooting their own special weapons in a twisted resemblance of bowling, D0G just plowing through them.

Those unused to fighting, such as Kleiner and the like, barricaded themselves in an office, trying desperately to find a way to communicate with Gordon and the others. Trying to send a radio through the portal, typing furiously at computers, and other fruitless attempts. But they couldn't seem to do it.

The CP with GLaDOS was breaking Combine regulation, handing out some of the Combine's ammo to the humans.

Everyone was hard at work, but the aliens kept coming. So they kept fighting until the remaining few teleported away. The Vortigaunts immediately grouped together, trying to find where they went through the Vortessence, but their efforts were in vain.

They had simply vanished.

* * *

><p>The G-Man wasn't mad.<p>

He was furious.

The humans and the Combine worked so well together. That wasn't supposed to happen at all! His entire army nearly defeated, the survivors cowardly running away!

He turned to another screen, finding that Gordon and his friends had found the disc with Cave Johnson on it.

Why couldn't all humans be like Mr. Johnson, not questioning his sudden appearances, following the orders he gave Cave without doubt, and following through.

Then again, no one could be like Cave Johnson. That was why he was chosen to create the brain-mapping technology to help the G-Man's company with their plan.

This wasn't going well at all.

* * *

><p>Gordon took a step back from the large image of Aperture's founder.<p>

"Hey, aren't you supposed to be dead?" Barney asked.

"Don't feel like it, felt the best I've ever felt in my life. Bored as hell, though. Till you guys showed up, anyway." he responded, the picture still unmoving, which unnerved the small group.

Except for Barney, who was chuckling a bit.

"Hey, say 'masked menace'." Barney eventually said..

"'Masked menace', now why would you want me to say that?" Cave's voice snapped.

Barney snorted in his futile attempt to hold back his laughter.

"Oh my God, you sound just like him..." he muttered in between snorts.

Alyx sighed. "Barney-"

"Son, you need help." Cave interrupted.

Barney slowly calmed down, when his eyes shot up. "Oh man, Gordon, yours was empty, right?" he asked, pointing to the CD drive.

Gordon nodded, when his eyes widened in surprise too.

"Oh my God." Alyx muttered, and reached for the slot.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing. Hey! Don't you dare! Do you know who I am-" he was cut off as the disc was ejected. She held the disc close to her face and stared and horror. She then stared at the discs and started sorting them.

"Dead, dead, alive, uh...unknown, alive, alive..." she muttered as she sorted through them.

The ones bearing the name of the deceased eventually made one pile, the living in another, and the unknown in a third pile. She picked up the ones with their names on it, and one by one inserted them in the slot, the others watching closely.

Disc Empty. Disc Empty. Disc Empty.

Lillian Stormson, Disc Empty.

Issac Kleiner, Disc Empty.

Alyx then picked up the one with her father's name on it, and with a shaking hand, inserted it.

Loading.

"Alyx? Is that you sweetheart?" an all-too familiar voice called out.

"Oh my God..."

* * *

><p><strong>Faster update than normal, my friends. Because I love you, and I got super excited over my omelette...LOL<strong>

**If anyone can get what Barney was laughing about, you'll be a part of a new club I'm creating besides the Awesome Club...**

**I call it...The Epic Club.**

************Dang, I had this cool little 'review' pattern-thingie I made to make you review, but when I click save, fanfic just screws it up. I tested it out on my profile after, and it worked on there, so if you wanna see the cool design, it's on the bottom of my profile.************

************The whole point of that was to get you to review, so...************

************REVIEW!************


	30. Irrelevant Revelations

**Sorry for late update guys. Really sorry. But I promise that the chapter after this one will come out faster, because it's birthday is coming up! YAYZ!**

**I got addicted to Avenger fanfiction...and I was slightly discouraged by some of the reviews I got. But for the love of God, if you find any plot holes, tell me, and I'll find a way to fix them! OKAY?! lol**

**Shutting up now.**

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><p>Chell narrowly avoided a Strider's leg as she walked through the base, holding a still-apologizing Wheatley.<p>

"I mean, I don't even know what was going on half the time! It's like, the body took control, you know? I mean, that's no excuse, but it still-"

"Chell!" Dylan called as he and Mel ran up to her, much to a stuttering Wheatley's annoyance. "Are you okay?"

Chell furrowed her brows and nodded, confused at where her friend's concern was coming from.

"Are you sure?" Mel tried.

Another nod.

"But that Strider nearly crushed you!" She shouted.

Chell glanced at the Strider, still walking towards the edge of the base. She barely even noticed, she was used to dodging and avoiding obstacles.

"OH MY GOD CHELL ARE YOU SURE YOU'RE OKAY?! IT WAS ALL MY FAULT IF ONLY I WASN'T DISTRACTING YOU-!"

He was cut off as he was grabbed out of Chell's arms by Dylan and chucked a few feet away, him screaming the entire way.

"Dylan!" Mel shouted.

"Come on, he tried to kill you before, what if he was doing it again?" Dylan explained to an equally shocked Chell.

Chell shook her head and picked up the cursing sphere, checking for any damages. Dylan sputtered as Chell seemed to mother over him, disbelief filling his entire brain. "But...but-!"

A glare from Chell shut him up. She then turned and walked away, listening to the babbling core, complaining about injuries.

Dylan stared after them, eyes wide with confusion and disbelief. "...What?"

Mel stared at her friend, her mind eventually comprehending the situation.

"You like her."

"What?!" Dylan shouted, catching Mel's gaze. "I'm just concerned, how could she forgive him just like that? He could be tricking her-"

"He's an idiot, he can't possibly deceive her. Trust me, I've seen the footage of him _trying_. It was actually kinda sad."

Dylan sighed and sat down on a nearby bench. "I'm still concerned." he stated.

"Because you like her." Mel stated. Dylan glared at her. "You're not denying it." she stated.

Dylan sighed harder. "Okay, yeah. But that's irrelevant, we're at war here, romance is not an option, it's not."

Mel rolled her eyes. "Whatever, man. But just know you have my blessing."

Dylan scoffed. "Why would I need your blessing?"

"Because I'm her aunt."

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><p>Tears were coming to Alyx's eyes as she glanced at the blown-up photo of her father, looking much younger than she ever remembered him.<p>

"Yeah, Dad?" she cautiously stated, while Gordon and Adrian shared a look and walked away.

They went back to the door and waited outside, watching as Alyx talked to the computer.

"That's messed up." Adrian stated. "They're gonna kill us all and stuff us in computers. Possibly to train their future soldiers."

Gordon shook his head and glanced down at his crowbar, spinning it around in his hands.

"What about you, though?"

Gordon glanced up, eyes showing the question.

"You can't talk."

Gordon gave a small smile and shook his head. "Yes I can." he said quietly, his voice surprisingly low.

Adrian's eyes shot up. "What...when...why haven't you talked before?"

Gordon shrugged and continued to stare at his crowbar before Alyx's knocking snapped them out of their thoughts.

They glanced at the door, noticing Alyx's face dried up and confident, Chris standing next to her.

"Guys, my dad wants to talk to you, Gordon"

Gordon stood up and walked back inside, coming face-to-screen with the picture of Eli.

"Gordon! Still holding on to that crowbar I see."

Gordon nodded, glancing at his weapon of choice.

"You're lucky I can somehow see you, son. You need to learn how to speak up."

Gordon shrugged and continued staring.

Eli's voice sighed. "Listen, I know you don't need me to tell you what to do, but here's what you need to do. You need to stop this madman and his 'company'. I don't know how, but I know they're going after a select few to be 'chosen.' The 'others' will proceed to be 'downloaded', but thrown out as unimportant. You and my daughter are among the chosen, and I need you to promise me that you will protect her with your life, understand?"

Gordon nodded.

"Good. You're a good man, Gordon. I know I can trust you. Once this war is over, I just thought that you should know that you have my permission if you choose my daughter."

Gordon sighed, Eli always was one to try to make a situation awkward.

"You're good for her son, I'm serious. And Gordon!"

Said man glanced up to the screen.

"I know it will be hard for Alyx, and a few others, but this isn't right. The others and I have done our part in the world, it's time for us to move on. Tell the others I said my goodbyes to them, and that I miss them terribly."

Gordon nodded.

"It's hard for me too, but this has to happen. Now take this disc out and destroy it, Gordon. I'm counting on you."

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><p>"You're her aunt?" Dylan asked. "Whoa...that's sorta weird and awkward, now, it is..."<p>

Mel threw back her head and laughed. "Yeah. But she and I were never close. My sister died and her father was going, so Caroline took her in. She didn't really ever like my mom, and kinda extended that to prejudice against my family. Don't get me wrong, Caroline was a wonderful person, and I know she was just trying to protect Chell."

Dylan nodded his head, understanding.

"And I'm sure you've seen that Chell is extremely forgiving. Why don't you go and apologize, Wheatley was her only real friend for a while, you know."

Dylan sighed and stood up. "All right." he started off in the direction Chell went.

"And Dylan!"

He turned around and faced Mel.

"No need to feel jealous, he's a computer. I'm sure you could beat him."

Dylan smirked and continued off on his small journey.

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><p><strong>Small chapter, I know. But at least it's something! And I promise a big chapter on it's birthday!<strong>

**REVIEW PLEASE!**


	31. Trustworthy Fraction

**Good God, guys. I thought this story's birthday was on October 10th or something, but on the tenth, I found out it was on the first, the day after I uploaded it.**

**I was so embarrassed, I didn't want to update for a while.**

**But, I love this story, and I know the smart people who read this love it too.**

**Oh yeah, and I fixed Garry's Mod.**

**And Black Mesa Source finally came out! You were right, tifftaffwabu. **

**Oh, and Netflix updated the Doctor Who episodes...**

**Jelly Baby, anyone?**

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><p>It was the worst thing that could possibly happen at this moment.<p>

Of course, History Guy was busy writing away the strange epidemic in near gruesome detail.

The return of the period. **(AN: I had to, I was wondering about what would happen.)**

Once the suppression field was disabled, it seemed only a matter of time, save for the fact that nobody had their period for over 20 years. Many were experiencing their very first.

And of course, they were synchronized.

"This is just great." Barney muttered, but a small smile appeared on his face as he walked back, hearing the women moaning in pain over their long-forgotten cramps.

He flashed a grin at Dylan, though, as we walked past.

"Have you seen Chell?" Dylan inquired.

Barney just laughed. "I wouldn't go near her now, she threw Wheatley at me."

Dylan laughed at that too, at the expense of Wheatley.

The duo walked past some Vortigaunts, busy trying to soothe the women that made up half of their army, as the Combine soldiers seemed to enjoy watching the torment.

Only a select few of the women were unaffected, and after testing, proved to be with child, thus incapable of fighting, and in need of many of their resources.

All hope seemed lost, the only happy sight being the robots from Aperture and D0G playing some form of ball with a deactivated rollermine. Even the robots they had built themselves seemed intelligent enough to learn whatever rules they had created.

Of course, the game immediately dispersed after the rollermine activated in midair, and hitting a hunter, wounding it.

10 robots were then destroyed. Atlas, P-Body, and D0G were now mourning along with the rest of the humans.

"Wait..." Dylan stopped in his place. "Barney?"

"Yeah?" said man responded.

"What are you doing here?"

Dylan could only gasp as Barney's smile turned sinister, and his hand clutched Dylan's throat with an inhuman strength.

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><p>Gordon held the disc in his hands, crowbar leaning against his leg. Alyx was outside talking to Adrian, Chris now hovering near his human friend.<p>

They could help hi - the human race, with some information. Maybe the ones 'downloaded' knew something they needed.

Did Alyx know what Eli asked of him?

After several moments of thought, he placed the disc in the box. This was a decision for another time, first he needed to stop the G-man from his plans.

As soon as the disc hit the box, an explosion happened.

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><p>Alyx was busy asking Adrian what was taking Gordon so long when the explosion occurred. She quickly jerked her head around and saw the building shake, Gordon rushing out just as the building collapsed.<p>

She held in a gasp as she saw the large rubble demolish the box of discs, knowing that she had lost her father a second time. Alyx dropped to the ground, not a tear or sob escaping her as she stared at the wreckage in shock.

Gordon watched as she gripped the too-green grass, pulling a clump out of the dirt, and gripping it so hard it could have turned to diamonds. If that were physically possible, of course. She then proceeded to walk slowly toward the wreckage.

"They're still here." she muttered after a while.

Confused, Gordon and Adrian ran towards her, not believing the sight before them.

The box may have been destroyed, but the discs remained in place.

"Hey..." Alyx then mused.

Gordon knelt down next to her, as she recovered every disc but one.

"_SHIT!_" she then yelled as she turned around, trying to look for something.

"What?" Adrian asked as he jerked up in response to the ouburst.

Alyx stared at the men with worried eyes. "Where's Barney?" she finally asked. "And while we're at it, where's your pet alien?" she pointed at the soldier.

Gordon glanced around looking for his old friend, as Adrian seemed at a loss for words when realization dawned on him.

Glancing down, reading the names off the discs, Gordon could only come to the same conclusion when the disc with Calhoun's name on it couldn't be found anywhere.

Standing up slowly, he gripped his crowbar and stood up tall, a frown of anger glued to his face.

"Let's find him." he stated clearly, as Alyx looked up in shock at the unfamiliar voice.

* * *

><p>"I should have done something!" Wheatley shrieked as he rolled around Chell's empty room. "What kind of idea was 'throw me' anyway! Idiot!" he scolded himself.<p>

He couldn't believe he couldn't do anything as that Calhoun man took Chell away.

On second thought, he couldn't believe Barney took Chell. He seemed like a nice bloke.

Then the door he was currently by opened, pushing him back into a corner.

"Hey! Watch where you're going!" he yelled as he bumped the wall.

He heard whoever it was give a slight jump in surprise, before the door closed and he came face to face with his worst enemy.

"_You._"

Dr. Kleiner adjusted his glasses. "I'm terribly sorry about that." he tried, knowing the sphere already didn't like him much. "Have you seen Chell? I wanted to ask some questions."

"That blasted Barney took her! Covered her mouth and dragged her out of here!" Wheatley yelled. "I thought you trusted this man!"

Kleiner looked genuinely surprised at this news. "Barney wouldn't...I'll be right back." he quickly ran out of the room.

"HEY!" Wheatley yelled as he was forgotten, yet again.

"I really hate that man sometimes..."

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><p>When the Kleiner man entered the dormitories inhabited by the humanoid Combine, guns were instantly raised.<p>

"No, I'm not here for violence, I'm looking for the one with GLaDOS installed."

_I'm in all their radios, genius._ the sarcastic voice of the AI deadpanned.

Kleiner mentally slapped himself at the revelation.

"Well, I was hoping to find the Combine that wouldn't point a gun at me to communicate to you with." Kleiner attempted.

_He's been disconnected for about two hours now. I don't even know where he is._ she responded after a moment's hesitation, a hint of worry in her voice.

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><p><strong>REVIEW MY SLAVES! Uh, I mean...Please leave a kind review, my best of friends...<strong>

**FEAR ME! **

**(That means 'thank you kindly' in my dictionary...)**


	32. Humanity

**HOLY SHIT I'M ALIVE! Write now my fingers are asleep, but I'm still typing away.**

**So, what took me so long?**

**Writer's Block, Trolls, friend of mine getting pregnant, awesome movies coming out, my family got our first dog, I saw a broadway production of Lion King, played World of Warcraft, Garry's Mod, got addicted to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and changed religions THRICE, even though my family still thinks I'm a Mormon. Oh, and I'M SIXTEEN NOW, BITCHES! Have been for months now, but ya know..._stuff_.**

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><p>Barney glared at the Shock Trooper from his place in the strange cell. He could have sworn that this Shock Trooper was on their side!<p>

The alien continued to mutter things in his alien language through some strange computer. He had already tried calling for help from the others who were only in the other room.

The cell must have been soundproofed.

"They must realize I'm missing by now." Barney mused. He shot daggers at Chris again, who kept communicating to whoever through the computer. After a small pause from the strange sounds, Chris pushed a button.

"What are you doing?" Barney asked with fear as the ground started to shake.

Then he felt the explosion, and watched Chris' strange screams as the explosion caused him to perish too. Barney closed his eyes and braced for the impact that never came.

He slowly opened an eye, only to come face-to-face with their greatest enemy.

"All right, who the hell _are_ you?" Barney shouted as the suited man strutted closer, smirk plastered on his face.

"You seem to be in a good mood...considering I've destroyed _all_ of your...friends."

Barney then lowered his head at the news of his friend's death. "We're gonna beat your ass so hard Hell won't even want to see it."

The man merely chuckled. "We've already..._conquered_ Hell, Mr. Calhoun." His eyes bore right into the former guard's, daring Barney to say something else.

Barney's face contorted in rage, staring right back in a way so harsh anyone else would have at least flinched.

G-Man merely turned around. "Worcenu, please proceed with the conversion."

As he walked away, the screams that now escaped Barney's mouth only served to place the grin right on his face again.

"Download complete."

"Thank you, Worcenu. Would you care to place the discs we've collected so far into the vessels?" The mysterious man replied.

"The others are in possession of the rogues, sir." an unbelievably low feminine voice responded. "They have now recognized Mr. Calhoun's absence, sir."

The G-Man grinned. "Then send the formation for a...retrieval mission." he stated. "They could use the experience." He glanced back at the steaming security guard, an evil smirk forming it's way onto his features. "Good night...Mr. Calhoun. It'll be a _pleasure_ working with you."

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><p><em>Caroline, I just don't get it.<em>

_**What don't you** **get**?_

_Bring your daughter to work day._

_**It's where you bring your daughter to work.**  
><em>

_No, not that! Chell would have been too old to-_

_**What brought this up?**  
><em>

_I've had a lot of time to think while sitting around here, and the urge to test, to _solve_ something was nearly excruciating. This is the only puzzle in my mind I can't work out. Chell would have been at least two when Cave died, so why would she go to-_

_**She was still my daughter. **  
><em>

GLaDOS went silent.

**_Chell was born on October 6, 1957, when Aperture was still greatly successful. Testing soon became mandatory, but I made sure that Chell was untouched. When Mr. Johnson died in 1983, I was soon uploaded onto a disc, which soon became your conscience. Chell had started working as an intern, and I can only guess Rattman took her to Bring Your Daughter to Work Day with a plan against you, and put her in with the test subjects when you killed everyone._**

GLaDOS paused for a nanosecond, an eternity to a computer. Was she feeling guilt?

All those people, with _lives_, and actual _dreams_, just stopped. Because of her.

All her fault. Chell locked away all those years, never experiencing anything a normal human would, to wake up _years _in the future still unable because the entire _planet_ had been taken over by aliens!

All her fault.

And now the _one_ Combine, willing to help the humans was gone, probably dead.

Dead like the people she had murdered.

All her fault.

Her fault.

_Guilty_.

GLaDOS let out an unearthly, haunting wail as the Combine all clutched their heads in an attempt to block out the noise, frequency so loud their dead bodies falling against the floor.

And with over half the alliance dead, another tragedy occurred. Although the biggest hard drive known to man, it was no match for the complete human transformation that had just transpired.

GLaDOS shorted out.

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><p>Kleiner was well out of range at this point, running to find the one missing Combine humanity so desperately needed, when GLaDOS screamed. He was far enough away for the 250 or so decibels to not reach him, thanks to the thick walls, but he fell to the floor in pain anyway, watching as the hunters and striders rampaged throughout the camp, humans and vortigaunts clutching their ears as they desperately tried to run away.<p>

And Wheatley cringed as he rolled out of the room, watching as the Combine's Hunters went crazy and destroyed everything around them, when his optic caught something.

Some_one. Barney._

"HELP!" Wheatley screamed at the scurrying humans as they ran for safety. "HE'S GETTING AWAY!"

With that statement, everything fell silent.

And Wheatley was scared it would permanently remain that way as D0G found him and carried him back inside.

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><p>"Barney!" Alyx yelled as they wandered around the empty paradise. "Where are you?"<p>

Behind her trudged the former Marine and Scientist, the former silently disconsolate over the loss of his friend.

Gordon struggled to remain in control, positive his gloves were the only thing preventing his bones from popping out of his skin as he gripped his crowbar.

"BARNEY!" Alyx called again.

"Hello, Miss Vance," a somewhat familiar, yet strange voice responded.

The trio turned around, to see two identical people chained to each other staring at them from several feet away.

"Who the _hell_ are you?" Alyx asked.

One of the twins (or original/clone) smirked almost evilly. "This is my good friend, Caroline," she stated, placing her hand on the other's shoulder, the one called Caroline glaring at the speaker. "And I, am known as _GLaDOS._"

Eyes went wide as the stared at the pair before them, now recognizing the now human, no longer computerized voice of the AI.

"Oh god..." Alyx whispered as she placed her head in her hand.

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><p><strong>Short chapter, I know, and for some reason my fingers are <em>still <em>asleep, this feels so weird!**

**Oh, and there's a typo in chapter 11 where it says Chell was five, it was supposed to say twenty five. Oops. Too lazy to fix it though, and I have to pee. Hey, feeling is starting to come back to my fingers! Ooh, OW! Bye!**


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